Bird Box (2018)

[aabattery]

A-well-a ev'rybody's heard about the bird

B-b-b-bird, b-birdd's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is a word

[4815162342]

Bullock gives a very good performance in this. There's some faults with some of the editing and the writing, but it's a solid film.

[CoolioD1]

so many post-apocalyptic films have to stretch so hard so they can have a happy ending. just embrace the nihilism my dudes.

 

aside from the "don't look" gimmick of the monster nothing really stands out as unique for the genre. has a couple pretty tense scenes. bullock and tom hollander in a little role are both real good but the rest of the cast are all pretty bad. cutting back and forth from the house scenes to the river stuff adds nothing probably would've been better to just do it chronologically.

[Ethan Hunt]

This movie Is for people who saw A Quiet Place and yelled "where's the backstory!"

[filmlover]

This started out pretty well (between the opening scene of Bullock instructing the kids and the World War Z-esque flashback to when the apocalypse began to spread) but became really uneven from there. Definitely had some edge-of-your-seat moments throughout but I don’t think the structure worked very well. And the whole thing felt kinda cheap and not very cinematic (which felt especially disappointing just days after watching Netflix deliver the cinematic qualities of Roma). Sandra Bullock is excellent in a gripping performance that is better than the movie deserves: honestly, without her performance, the movie wouldn’t have much of anything going for it (the rest of the high-on-talent cast does their best with what little the script feeds them). While it’s mostly gonna be compared to A Quiet Place (and pales in comparison in all areas), it’s more of a mediocre version of M. Night Shyamalan’s godawful The Happening. Surprised it’s become such a sensation. C+

[La Binoche]

Uneven and flawed but entertaining and well acted. Better than the shitty Quiet Place, which shamelessly ripped off the 2014 book that Bird Box is based on. At least Bullock's character isn't dumb enough to get pregnant AFTER the shit hit the fan. B-

[The Panda]

A pretty mediocre movie, I don’t get the hype.  Bullock is good though

[Webslinger]

Hoo boy, it's almost like someone heard that Lights Out had a problematic take on mental illness in horror and then immediately said "Hold my beer."

 

Despite plenty of talent on both sides of the camera and a solid first hour, Bird Box ultimately registers as a messy disappointment whose second hour gives way to dumb plot developments and an unsatisfying third act that fails to live up to the promise of what came before. The film follows so many beats of more successful works (Dawn of the Dead, The Road) and less successful ones (The Happening) that it often feels a little too familiar for its own good. It also invites unforeseen comparisons with this year’s post-apocalyptic survival horror A Quiet Place, which was far more successful in cultivating and maintaining strong bonds between characters and keeping viewers emotionally invested in the proceedings. Bird Box is purposely aloof in step with the personality of its protagonist for much of the running time, but it also neglects to do the necessary legwork to make her arc toward caring for her children feel authentic and organic to the narrative. Moreover, the film takes a grave misstep in its use of suicide and mental illness to drive the plot forward; its depiction of a suicide epidemic feels more than a touch insensitive in the wake of the national conversation about suicide (it also doesn’t deal effectively enough with the horror of sudden suicidality to make that plot element feel like a haunting allegory rather than a gimmick somewhat more tastefully done than it was in The Happening) and its broader depiction of mental illness is shallow and occasionally offensive. And it really is too bad that the film goes off the rails in these ways because Susanne Bier’s direction is solid and most of the cast – particularly Sandra Bullock and Trevante Rhodes – squeezes as much as they can from the stock characterizations they’re given. Unfortunately, Bird Box just feels like a poorly-executed mash-up of several better movies.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Webslinger