Upon hearing so many negative things about this film, I am not ashamed to be a part of those who actually enjoy it. Bird Box is one of Netflix's last releases for this year as director Susanne Bier delivers an incredibly entertaining movie. Sandra Bullock and Trevante Rhodes lead the cast of this film and even though its premise may seem silly at first, it will undoubtedly engross you in its story. Despite a weak script and strange pacing, this movie takes cues from various types of movies to create an exciting thriller.
This film follows Malorie, played by Sandra Bullock, as she attempts to survive in a world with two children where you must be blindfolded in order to survive the apocalyptic nightmares outside. This movie seems to take inspiration from a mess of different horror films of recent years, but it is still able to remain its own, mildly interesting idea. The script throughout this movie has some of the best but simultaneously worst parts of its narrative. These best parts include the narrative style that they chose to tell this story. This movie begins five years after the outbreak of the suicidal madness that attacked the world, but contains flashbacks to when it first began. As Malorie and her sister Jessica, played by an unfortunately under-utilized Sarah Paulson, first experience the outbreak, Malorie ends up locked in a house with other survivors, including Douglas (John Malkovich), Tom (Trevante Rhodes), and Charlie (Lil Rel Howery), amongst others. The most interesting part of this film happens as the flashbacks between present day and the outbreak occur. This was a very good way to tell the story, as typical as it may have been. The pacing throughout this movie is one of the narrative's main problems, however. As these flashbacks happen, there is not much between the two simultaneous stories to connect them or make me feel for these characters. It does not help either that the dialogue all the way through felt very lazy and forced. I do feel that this movie would have worked even better as a non-linear puzzle film, though. This could have solved the problems of connecting the two different timelines while also paving the way for some better twists and turns.
First off, if you are producing a horror film or thriller of any kind and do not cast Lil Rel Howery as the comic relief, you are making a mistake. The casting in this movie is perfect as each actor really gives their all. Even if the performances are nothing award-worthy or particularly memorable, the energy that comes from them all is enough to make every scene entertaining. Especially the performances from Bullock and Rhodes, which were enough to carry the entire film (and would have been much more interesting now that I think of it). The other, biggest part of this film that I enjoyed, in spite of its weak script and pacing, was its directing and building of tension. I can honestly say that I was stressed out the entire time while watching this film, as it started and ended very strongly. While there may not be much closure on the invisible monsters that plagued the world, I loved how the camera angles and character writing paved the way for some very tense moments. My only issue with the directing was the fact that this movie is a bit of a tonal mess. It has the signature humor that is needed in a thriller and I felt the tension, but I was never quite scared. The horror aspect never really reached the point of me being worried about the characters or where they were headed. Perhaps it was partly due to the predictability, but I was not entirely engaged as much as I would have liked to have been.
If a Netflix writer tried to combine John Krasinski's A Quiet Place and Seth Rogen's This is the End, it would result in Bird Box. This movie is an enjoyable horror-thriller that is definitely carried by Sandra Bullock and Trevante Rhodes. Even though its script was extremely weak, the direction built up tension very effectively, creating an overall fun movie.
My Rating: ★★★
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