Bird Box (2018)

It is evident that in recent years, Netflix has made quite a huge push to create original content and make films strictly for streaming release on their platform as relevant, if not more so, than films released into cinemas. Their success has been undeniable with certain Netflix Originals, such as Beasts of No Nation (though it did have a very limited cinematic release), I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Okja, Bright, The Cloverfield Paradox, as well as more recent potential hits Polar and Velvet Buzzsaw. Bird Box is one of the latest to join the list of successful Netflix Originals.

The film has been hugely hyped and much talked about since its release. Opinions regarding it have been largely split. It has become the target of jokes and memes online and has been a film that is “popular to hate”, largely due to its high profile, whereas others highly praise the film and strongly recommend it.

In my opinion, while not a terribly original idea, the film still was largely entertaining. It seems to be heavily borrowing elements from other films, such Frank Darabont’s The Mist (based on the Stephen King novel), M. Night Shymalan’s The Happening and John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman, Bird Box was directed by Susanne Bier (After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire, Serena) and boasts a modest budget (by today’s standards) of $20 Million, which was mostly put to good use in its production. Bier does a good job of building tension in all the right places and the visuals do well to convey the waking nightmare our characters go through.

The well-directed ensemble cast, who all perform at a very high level, includes Sandra Bullock (Speed, Gravity, Ocean’s Eight) in one of her best roles in years, the extremely charismatic and likable Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight, The Predator), who seems destined for a breakout role in the near future, the always reliable John Malkovich (Con Air, Shadow of the Vampire, Velvet Buzzsaw) who does well in a fairly restrained role by his standards, the delightful Sarah Paulson (Blue Jay, Ocean’s Eight, TV’s American Horror Story), as well as veterans Jackie Weaver (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Animal Kingdom, Widows), Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean films, Hanna, Bohemian Rhapsody), BD Wong (The Jurassic Park films, TV’s American Horror Story, Gotham, Mr. Robot) and Pruitt Taylor Vince (The Cell, Identity, Constantine). All do their roles justice.

The story builds well early on despite intercutting between two time periods via flashbacks, showing us the “point of impact”, where the strange events began all the way to the present, which is about five years later. We get a good sense of what has taken place, albeit with very few details of the actual cause of all this terror, all the way to the reality our characters are experiencing at the present time. The sense of fear and sheer terror the characters have encountered, and are still facing, plays a huge role in the viewing experience. The more the sense of tension and terror works on the viewer, the better the experience is likely to be.

Personally, I ended up somewhere in the middle of the two camps with regard to this film. I found it entertaining and well directed, shot and performed. It looks great. However, I did feel like something was missing and could not help but compare it to the films it borrows from. While not as good as The Mist, it probably ended up fairly on par with The Happening and A Quiet Place in my opinion. It was an entertaining ride but the ending left me less satisfied as it seemed to be somewhat mishandled and caused the climax to fizzle out. I have not read the book this film based on, but I get the feeling that it would be a superior experience to the film and certain things that worked less for me onscreen, might work better when the imagination is left to roam free.

A well put together film. Worth checking out. 7/10.