Bird Box

The American movie Bird Box, an original Netflix production, is a good horror movie. It is a very well-put-together horror movie with a pretty good ending that, although I admit I was not expecting it, seems pretty obvious after you first see it. Still, I could not shake the feeling that this was something I had seen before in A Quiet Place, and that movie got to me a bit more than this. (10/02/2019)

One of the best directorial works by Susanne Bier, who has endured the dangers of a film in which a piece of hypersensitive kitsch is definitely dormant. But, folks, Sandra is great and Trevante Rhodes shows that his special fragility is as astounding as his musculature. Screenwriter Erik Heisserer is an aspirant and intends to specialize in female alien encounters ... which is why the structure of the two alternating levels of storytelling works very well. Bird Box has a nice rhythm and does not drag, and moreover, it avoids the absurd escalation that damaged the similarly tuned A Quiet Place. It's a bit unfortunate that the point itself feels a little lost, and the main character, despite trying to question her relationship to unwanted motherhood, never quite goes deep enough. But chattering aside, this is very solid genre work in all respects, also because the creators eventually gathered enough courage not to show the evil at all. I wish their Hollywood colleagues would take an example from them. One of the best Netflix originals and a dignified reparation for ultimate evil from Shyamalan's The Happening. (01/19/2019)

Another attempt at combining horror and social drama, sitting in a corner in the shadow of Darabont’s The Mist. The constant alternation of the two different time planes becomes narratively monotonous after an hour or so. Somehow, with its “relationship content” and all of the clichés it tends to use, it becomes very unlikely that the film may in any way be surprising or bring something new into its subject matter, which resembles that of some recent genre movies. The intriguing premise with a great start fails to fulfill the potential of a decent genre event, leaving only a safe, mainstream drama about the importance of sticking together with a few scary scenes, children at risk and a pleasant Sandra Bullock. It’s not that I didn’t watch it with interest; I just consider it a waste of a great potential. (01/21/2019)

For me, on the same level of A Quiet Place (which I actually liked a little bit less than the average rating would suggest), though it also has some passages that will make a sane viewer facepalm. The behaviour of the characters doesn’t correspond to what would be sensible a given situation (can anyone explain me why nobody paid attention to the guy who in the flashback was experimenting with cameras around the house?). Taken as a whole, however, it’s professionally put together, with solid performances and direction. But expecting a masterpiece would be a mistake. (12/17/2018)

I liked it a little more than A Quiet Place, because this film started, continued and ended with a intimate-depressing atmosphere, and never drifted towards action scenes at all costs. Moreover, the evil that was causing all this was even more mysterious, unknown the entire time and thus more interesting. That's great. And the scene with the car ride to the supermarket was truly superb. (01/05/2019)