Birdbox (2018) - Review
Originally published February, 2019I've watched multiple Netflix branded and produced horror movies over the past year and have been mostly unimpressed or uninspired so far (1922; Before I Wake). Each of them had some good ideas, but were unable to deliver on them in a meaningful way that would have pulled them out of the realm of mediocrity. Bird Box, a Netflix horror movie with a terrible name, has garnered enough praise to become something of a sensation—capable of inspiring one of the dumbest internet challenges of the past few years. Does it have enough good qualities to break the cycle of mediocrity?
While I had found myself bored or constantly nitpicking the other Netflix horror films I'd seen, Bird Box managed to keep me interested and entertained through a majority of the film. A lot of different factors like the acting, music, and direction were working really well together. I wasn't necessarily blown away by the experience, but I liked what I saw and, most importantly, what I didn't see.
Pros
Sandra Bullock and a few supporting actors give strong performances
Effective sound effects
Creepy and powerful soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Constant tension keeps you captivated
Different plot and story arcs connect in a way that makes sense and works
Invisible threats make them scarier; a good premise
Doesn't overburden itself with needless explanations of how things work
Cons
Most characters are a bit too archetypal; not a ton of depth
Pacing and plot turns are somewhat by-the-numbers; predictable
Some poor editing choices towards the end
Relies on a suspension of disbelief from the audience not to ask too many questions
Some sappy moments that could have been improved
Plot & Thoughts
Bird Box opens with Malorie (Sandra Bullock), a hardened woman who has clearly gone through a number of traumatic experiences, up in our face demanding complete and full cooperation with her on a dangerous journey down a river. As the camera pans out, it shows that her intense demands were being made to children who were no more than 6 years-old. Her sentences are simple, but her tone is fierce and her threats are real. The kids must listen to her and do what she says, and they must not take their blindfolds off or they will die.
Cut back to about 5 years earlier, Malorie is a pregnant painter in her third trimester and she's not 100% sure she wants to keep the child or give it up for adoption. We get glimpses into her past through different bits of dialogue throughout the movie, but it's established early on that she's not convinced she'd be a great mother due to her harsh upbringing and due to the fact that she didn't have anyone else in the picture to help her. After an ultrasound appointment, Malorie is on her way out of the hospital with her sister (Sarah Paulson) when all hell suddenly breaks loose and the horrifying news stories of mass hysteria and suicides that had been occurring around the world for no apparent reason suddenly start happening right in front of them.
After a dramatic and action-packed sequence of near-death car crashes and some people doing very irrational things, Malorie finds herself with a small handful of survivors (one of whom is also pregnant), inside a very nice Craftsman-style home, wondering what the hell just happened. From here, it's a pretty straightforward survival-horror film scenario where there is a lot of bickering among characters about what to do in this crisis and how to survive with each other. Bird Box manages to escape some (not many) trappings of similar movies (i.e. The Mist), despite the somewhat run-of-the-mill assortment of characters and circumstances, by having two main plotlines. The moments in which we jump back to Malorie on the river with the two children years later help break up the movie's more predictable moments in the Craftsman house. Considering how most of those characters were not the most complex or interesting, and considering that the movie informs us pretty quickly that Malorie is going to end up alone at some point, it's good that we spend more time with her in different scenarios than with the rag-tag group of one-dimensional survivors.
There's something else that Bird Box does right in terms of separating itself from other horror films like it. It makes the conscious decision not to show the audience the overwhelming threat. The things that everyone in the movie is hiding from are these mysterious creatures that cause people to go insane and become suicidal when they look at them. They're ethereal beings with very little physical presence in the world: only enough to make plants move when they pass through them, like wind. However, there are still ominous growls and maddening voices trying to convince the characters to look at them when they pass by. It's a very Lovecraftian scenario that mostly works. However, I can't help but ask questions about the tangibility of the creatures and why they seem very limited in their ability to go inside buildings or physically touch anything, yet are determined enough to chase people down and force them to look upon them. There's a number of arbitrary conveniences surrounding the nature of these creatures, including a much more tangible threat that shows up later, but it's better that the movie focuses on the characters instead of making the mistake of trying to explain everything.
It is still a Netflix movie, though. As the film approaches its end, strange directing, editing, and writing choices start to rear their ugly head. There are some unnecessary flashback sequences to things that occurred within the past ten minutes. There are some somewhat irrationally stupid decisions made by smart characters for the sake of keeping the action fast and dramatic, some of those contrivances become a little less acceptable, and there's some sappy exchanges between characters that could have been far more effective had the filmmakers put a little more time and thought behind it. I get the sense that because Netflix is more about pumping out content frequently, its films may suffer the side-effects of assembly-line pressures and end up with concepts, scenes, or scripts that sounded good in the storyboard room but weren't given enough time to critically work out all the rough edges. At least Bird Box manages to rise to the top of the Netflix chaff.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
Bird Box is a surprisingly entertaining and captivating horror film. It relies on a lot of clichés and it has a lot of the markings of a Netflix movie that could have benefited from a little more time in the workshop. However, with a compelling protagonist, a strong and scary soundtrack, and a premise ripped out of an HP Lovecraft short story, Bird Box manages to give a thrilling adventure that is tense from start to finish. The movie didn't make me want to become an idiotic fan, determined to eliminate myself via natural selection in an internet challenge, but it did make me hopeful for more Netflix horror films in the future.
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