{"id":3687,"date":"2018-12-23T02:58:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T02:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bryanbuser.com\/365moviesbyday\/?p=3687"},"modified":"2024-05-24T03:12:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T03:12:34","slug":"bird-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/365moviesbyday.bryanbuser.com\/bird-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird Box (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Quiet Place<\/em>\u00a0meets\u00a0The Mist<\/em><\/a>\u00a0meets\u00a0The Happening<\/em>\u00a0meets\u00a0The Road<\/em><\/a>\u00a0meets\u00a0I Am Legend<\/em>\u00a0(specifically with one of the alternating endings). That’s a quick and easy way to describe the effective Netflix release\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>. Many people will compare\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em>\u00a0to this film because of its proximity to release dates. I would have been upset if this was a cheap rip-off of, perhaps, the biggest surprise hit of 2018, replacing not making noise with being unable to see the change. But\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0is based on a 2014 debut novel of the same name by\u00a0Josh Malerman, years before previews of\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em> were even created. This makes the movie even more enjoyable. You get to wonder about Malerman’s inspirations rather than assuming that it was the novel he was trying to emulate.<\/p>\n

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Told in the apocalyptic\u00a0near future,\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0weaves in and out of a flashback story set five years ago. Set somewhere in the United States, probably in the northeast in an urban location that is not far from a major river, we meet Malorie (Sandra Bullock –\u00a0The Blind Side, Speed<\/em>), a mother with two five-year-old children (named boy and girl) who have tight blindfolds around their eyes and receive instruction, in no understated terms, that they are\u00a0never\u00a0to take off the blindfolds as they go down the river. She teaches the two young children about sound, letting them know if they are in open or closed spaces. She hooks large pools of thick string to a home\u00a0base so that she and the children can always return to the point of origin. They prepare to board a rowboat where Malorie will attempt to paddle down the river to a haven.<\/div>\n
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Five years prior, Malorie was pregnant. And we learn early on that maybe she doesn’t want to be. There is no man in her life. Sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson – F\/X’s\u00a0American Horror Story<\/em>) is with Malorie for a routine visit where Malorie isn’t interested in learning the baby’s sex. She talks about drinking alcohol in front of her doctor and showing a genuine disinterest in anything with the baby. It’s enough for her doctor to bring up adoption as an option, handing her a brochure that Malorie intently ponders. Malorie is also out of touch with the world, as she doesn’t pay much attention to the news. So it comes as some surprise to her when Jessica mentions a phenomenon happening in Asia in which people are going crazy and killing themselves. But that’s in Russia, so why worry? However, on their way out of the hospital, they see a woman smashing her head vehemently into a glass window and other events that are out of the ordinary. On the drive, Jessica witnesses something and suddenly goes wild by flooring the gas pedal and not stopping at stoplights or signs before flipping their SUV over. Malorie is temporarily trapped in the car and is helpless as she sees her sister escape from the vehicle to purposefully step in front of a moving semi, meeting a violent death.<\/p>\n

Shifting back and forth from this period to the present day (frequently at times), we don’t learn a ton yet, and there is a Stephen King kind of intrigue involved throughout the movie because you aren’t entirely sure of what is causing these people to act the ways that they do. But we learn that it has something to do with what they see. These people seem terrified by whatever they see, which causes their eyes to become mesmerized. Most of the affected, ultimately, end up taking their own lives. But not everybody reacts to the epidemic once they are exposed to it in the same way. And that is part of the fascination, too. It becomes as much about staying away from the affected as figuring out who is affected and who you can trust. There are influences from\u00a0The Walking Dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Malorie escapes into the home of a surly Douglas (John Malkovich –\u00a0In the Line of Fire,\u00a0Dangerous Liaisons<\/em>), disgruntled neighbor Greg (D.B. Wong –\u00a0Jurassic World<\/em>, HBO’s\u00a0Oz<\/em>), good guy Tom (Trevante Rhodes –\u00a012 Strong,\u00a0Moonlight<\/a><\/em>), comic relief Charlie (Lil Rel Howery –\u00a0Get Out<\/a>, Tag<\/em>), fellow pregnant woman Olympia (Danielle MacDonald –\u00a0Patti Cake$<\/em>), and a handful of others. Like with any group, plenty of dynamics are augmented by the stressful situation in which the group finds itself. Decisions need to be made on food rations, which new people to let in who come knocking on the door, the course of action, etc. They can agree that people become affected by the epidemic through their eyes. They see something, and then it goes crazy. What we don’t know is if it is something in the sky or if it’s by looking at someone affected. So, anything involving the eyes becomes an issue. They block out all the sunlight in Douglas’s home.<\/p>\n

When welcoming new people, they make them put a cover over their faces. How they know it’s safe for said individual to take off the cover is uncertain. Yes, there are some plotholes in this film. However, unlike the most recent film I reviewed (2018’s The Mule<\/em><\/a>), this movie flowed. Whereas\u00a0The Mule<\/em>\u00a0repeatedly puts Clint Eastwood in different situations with little relation from one scene to the next,\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0feels differently. There is cohesion. There is progress. When there is the need for a break, we transition back to Malorie and the two children on the river, wherewith each visit, we are further along on their trip (two hours on the river, six hours on the river, eight hours on the river, etc.).<\/p>\n

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Is\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0a candidate for the movie of the year? It absolutely is not. Is it better than most of what you’ll see this year? It is. It does not create quite the same tension as\u00a0A Quiet Place,<\/em>\u00a0and while it feels fresh and original, it still falls short of a true comparison. There was something about\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em>\u00a0that was so wholly captivating, taught, and terror-filled about a film with almost no talking despite all of its flaws.\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em>\u00a0has stayed with me like no other movie has this year. It has gotten me to the point that it will find a spot in my End of Year Top 10 and that I will need to watch it again to do its review justice. Everything was so absolutely deliberate in\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em>.\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0wasn’t nearly that precise, and I’m not sure this was its intent.\u00a0A Quiet Place<\/em>\u00a0was designed to be a big-budget blockbuster.\u00a0Bird Box<\/em>\u00a0was intended to be something softer but equally as poignant. It succeeded in that sense.<\/div>\n
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I am surprised that Sandra Bullock signed on for a movie that would have a minimal release and be watched mainly by people in the comforts of their own homes. But I’m glad she did. Director\u00a0Susanne Bier (Serena, Things We Lost in the Fire<\/em>) could have gone with a lesser-known star. I didn’t watch this film because it had Bullock (though it indeed increased the intrigue). However, after the movie’s first scene, where her version of Malorie brings the intensity and sets the tone for the remainder of the film, I couldn’t have imagined anyone else leading the way.<\/p>\n

Bird Box i<\/i>s a neat film worth watching.<\/div>\n
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Plot 9\/10
\nCharacter Development 7\/10
\nCharacter Chemistry 8\/10
\nActing 7.5\/10
\nScreenplay 9.5\/10
\nDirecting\u00a0 9\/10
\nCinematography 10\/10
\nSound 8\/10
\nHook and Reel 10\/10
\nUniversal Relevance 8\/10
\n86%<\/p>\n

B<\/p>\n

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