Bird Box
(2018) 124 Min.
Rated: R (gore, suicide)
Country: USA
Director: Susanne Bier
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a mother and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
Synopsis:
Malorie (Bullock) is an artist who is pregnant. She and her sister Jessica (Paulson) visit a hospital where Malorie gets an ultrasound of the baby done. While the sisters are there they notice chaos start to ensue. Earlier there had been reports on tv about a strange thing that would cause a person to commit suicide. The origins seemed to be in Russia, but now it was happening in the US.
Malorie and Jessica were trying desperately to leave and drive to Jessica’s home, when Jessica sees something. Malorie doesn’t happen to see the same thing, but this creature sighting causes Jessica to crash her car, crawl out of it and stand in front of a large truck to commit suicide. Meanwhile there is a rush of people and Malorie hardly has time to register what happened to her sister.
She is guided by a police officer named Lucy to a nearby house owned by Greg (Wong). Douglas (Malkovich) and his wife see Malorie get pushed around in the street and the wife tried to assist Malorie at first, but she sees a creature and commits suicide. Lucy, Malorie, Douglas and a number of other people are all gathered in Greg’s home.
Intermittently through the film there are flashes to the “present time” where Malorie and two children: one named Boy and another named Girl, decide to leave their safe house with blindfolds on. They make their way to a boat alongside a river and start to ride the river blindfolded.
Back in the past. After being trapped in the house for some time, a newcomer named Olympia who is also pregnant joins the group. They are all cautious of the outside world and always have the windows covered.
Greg decides to utilize the cameras around the house to see outside through a “filter”. Greg watches the monitors but ultimately he is overcome when he witnesses the creatures and he ends up hitting his head against some masonry and dying.
The film switches back to 14 hours on the river and Malorie and the children encounter a crazy man who tells them to take their blindfolds off. He wades over to their boat and he and Malorie fight. She is able to cut him with a machete she has and the group escapes further down the river.
Back in the past, Charlie, who worked at a supermarket, informs the others that he made sure to secure it before he left. The others decide to take a trip there using the GPS on a car with blacked out windows. Malorie, Charlie, Douglas, Lucy, and Tom are chosen to take this journey.
The group reaches a super market and loads up on supplies. Malorie finds some birds and Douglas argues that the group should stay and live in the supermarket and never return to the people they left behind. Suddenly the group hears a pounding on the loading dock door and Charlie recognizes it as an old co-worker, Fish Fingers, who was crazy, but nice to him. The group tries to slowly open the door, but Fish Fingers attempts to push through. Charlie, sensing the danger, shoves Fish Fingers back outside, sacrificing himself as he is now trapped outdoors. Fish Fingers kills Charlie then begs to be let inside again. The group decides to leave and go back home.
After 24 hours on the river in present time, the boat hits a truck in the river and Boy falls over the edge. Malorie is able to rescue him but their supplies are in the river. She quickly docks the boat when she hears wind chimes and forages for replacements in a nearby shelter, meanwhile the creatures can be heard lurking outside the building. Malorie returns to the boat and resumes their trip.
Flash to the past: Olympia lets a stranger named Gary into the house without anyone’s approval. Gary claims that he was in a safe location with others when mental patients from a local asylum broke into their home and forced them to see the creatures. Gary said he managed to no see the creatures and ran until he reached their home. Douglas wants Gary out, but he is overruled.
Olympia and Malorie go into labor at the same time. They both manage to have their babies, but Gary goes into the room and uncovers the windows, trying to force the women to see how beautiful the creatures outside are. Olympia sees outside and commits suicide. Malorie cowers with the two babies under a blanket. Douglas fights with Gary until Gary stabs him. Tom manages to kill Gary and saves Malorie and the babies.
Malorie spends the next five years with Tom and raising the children. They get a message from a man named Rick over the walkie talkie. He tells them they have a community that is safe at the end of the river, but it’s a dangerous two day journey that should not be done with children.
On one of the family’s foraging trips, a group of psychos with guns attack the house they are currently foraging through. Tom decides to be a distraction and tells Malorie he loves her and asks her to return home with the kids. If he isn’t back after fifteen minutes she’s to take the boat and go to Rick’s place. Tom manages to kill the group of psychos, but not without taking off his blindfold. He sees a creature and commits suicide. Malorie realizes he is dead after waiting a while at home and weeps. She takes the children on the river journey.
In present time, almost 48 hours have passed and Malorie and the children must pass through rapid waters. She decides that they will all wear their blindfolds and cross it. The boat overturns, but they all manage to survive. They hear the distant chirping of birds on the shore and Malorie and the children follow the sound.
The group is able to reach a building and they are allowed inside and their eyes are checked for signs of seeing the creatures. They are welcomed in and Malorie sees that it is a large school for the blind. The covered courtyard is full of birds and greenery. Malorie’s pre-natal doctor is there and she asks what the name of the children are. Malorie tells her that Girl is named Olympia and Boy is named Tom. The film ends.
Review:
The movie has an interesting premise and is based on a novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. There are a number of differences in the novel and the film, which can be read about here. The film ends with a lighter and more hopeful tone than the book among other things.
Though there are a number of deaths in the film, the majority of them appear off screen or are somewhat muted. They are not the focus, it seems. Instead the drama between the characters takes focus.
The creatures outside of the house aren’t very well explained in the film, versus the book. Though in reality they aren’t described in detail in the book, there is still more of a sense of their capabilities.
The acting overall is good, with a little bit of scene chewing from John Malkovich. But it’s somewhat fun, given the genre. The film also has a fairly long runtime, though it does manage to engage the audience and at least be interesting.
The most problematic thing seems to be the flash back and forth in time during the film (and the book) which seems to spoil some of the events that are going to occur later in the story. We know Malorie is with two children at first even though she is only pregnant with one child. When Olympia appears we can assume she dies later after giving birth. This, unfortunately, lessens the impact of madman killing everyone in the household.
This is a film that I would recommend to anyone who wants an interesting, if somewhat slow, suspenseful horror film. It isn’t too gory but it also isn’t too exciting either.