The end of the world: much feared, and much theorised about is scary enough. It’s even scarier when that end comes in the form of an invisible force that manifests as your greatest fear or loss…
And that is the premise of Susanne Bier’s ‘Bird Box’.
The film opens with stern mother, Sandra Bullock’s Malorie, instructing two young children known simply as ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, to “not to take off their blindfolds” because if they do, they will be killed. And thus begins the trio’s arduous journey across the unstable waters to find safety.
This journey, which Malorie does point out would feel like a long time, is interspersed by a flashback to five years ago, where it all began.
Malorie, a pregnant artist seemingly abandoned by her baby daddy, is established right from the get-go as someone that’s tough as nails.
A trip to the hospital for a prenatal appointment with her sister, played by cult favourite Sarah Paulson, becomes the beginning of the end, as she finds death taking over the United States – as it has previously taken over Russia and Europe, in the form of mass-suicides seemingly caused by sudden bouts of insanity.
The film up to this point keeps up a decent pace, but then as it moves to show the small group of survivors holed up in a house, things slow down as you find yourself not identifying or rooting for any of them in particular. Why? Because when their inevitable ends come, all you know about them is that they survived, and then they died. Nothing more.
This is a shame and a waste of an ensemble cast that could have achieved a lot more than the script allowed them. Whether that be John Malkovich’s portrayal of alcoholic crank Douglas or Trevante Rhodes’s badass war veteran Tom, Get Out’s Lil Rel Howery as bumbling “end-of-world” novel writer/grocery store worker Charlie or Danielle MacDonald’s Olympia as the other pregnant girl in the house of survivors, who in contrast to Malorie’s tough disposition is described, in Olympia’s own words as “soft.” These characters, despite their potential for a fleshed-out background, become nothing more add-ins that drop like flies at different points in the film.
Another disappointment is how repetitive and somewhat boring, the journey across the supposedly scary rapids end up being. Capsizing boats escaped patients from the insane asylums who think of the creatures as “beautiful”, and haunting whispers that endlessly prompt Malorie and the kids to take off their blindfolds. That’s the entire journey; all easily encompassed in a sentence; no complexity, no suspense.
The use of the canary birds known for being heralds of danger, carried in a box, to alert to the presence of the creatures, is a good idea. One that seems like would be central to the plot, considering the film is titled ‘Bird Box’, but that plot point gets lost as the squealing birds get drowned out by urgent dialogue.
But unlike the movie’s storyline, watching ‘Bird Box’ surely wouldn’t be the end of the world – especially if you are a fan of Sandra Bullock. Because America’s Sweetheart definitely doesn’t disappoint. And if the apocalypse seems hopeless, the end of the film proves that there’s some light left at the end of the tunnel after all.
By Malvika Padin