Bird Box (Movie): is it a happy ending? (Spoiler alert)
Spoiler Alert: this post reveals information about the development of events in the film.
Last month, the movie Bird Box premiered on the Netflix platform, starring Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson and Jacki Weaver, among others. It's a film adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Josh Malerman, published in 2014.
In short, it's a post apocalyptic thriller about a future, not too distant, in which an alien invasion causes a wave of massive suicides among human beings. Gone were those anthropomorphic aliens who came to invade us in their OVNIS, armed with their lasers. In recent years, beings from another planet that have been represented on the big screen have migrated to heterodox physical forms and also new features, or in several cases unknown, mysterious, for humanity. Such is the case of A quiet place or the majestic Arrival, one of the best movies I've seen about the alien theme. However, although these beings generate chaos in Bird Box the film is not so much about them, as about humanity and about the adaptability and survival instinct of a species that in many cases doesn't achieve thinking as such.
If in A quiet place it was imperative not to make any noise because the visitors had a super developed hearing system, in Bird Box the vital thing is to keep the eyes closed, covered, bandaged, because through them comes destruction for people. The detail of having closed eyes establishes the condition from which the moments of greatest tension of the film are derived and is something innovative in the genre. However, despite this different touch, the twists of the plot are so predictable that you don't need to read the book to guess what is going to happen.
I feel the film missed some elements in the plot that could have exploded more (maybe that defect comes from the book, I don't know, but if that's the case, being an adaptation could not have contributed something else?) And between predictable things and forced scenes, the real suspense never ends up reaching its maximum point. Another thing that was missed was the cast. In the particular, Bullock doesn't seem an outstanding actress to me, I would not include her in the Olympus of Hollywood because I consider that in most of her roles she fulfills without pain or glory. But, aside from my opinion, she's a recognized actress, winner of an Academy Award. And if we add Paulson and Malkovich we have a cast that seems to have been set up to attract viewers, recognizing, perhaps unintentionally, that these names were necessary to capture an audience that wouldn't see the film by itself.
The main story of the film is the survival of Malorie (Sandra Bullock) with her children and in the end she manages to reach the refuge she was heading for. For many it would be a happy ending, right? but is not. At least not for me. Throughout the film, people hide and flee from the alien invaders. At no time are they fighting. Which means that now Planet Earth belongs to them, or at least, they are the ones that rule. Human beings, once the owners of the planet, end up like mice in their mousetrap. Some mice that, in addition, are mostly blind. The human race is directed blindly towards its extermination. It has only managed to delay the defeat a little in a battle that it has not even been able to fight.
Weighing the positive and negative aspects of the film, I consider a score of 6/10 rewarding the original of some details and recognizing that, at times, the film entertains; but punishing also the wastage of some elements and the inability of this supposed thriller to maintain the characteristic suspense of the genre.
