You may have heard of Bird Box around the internet lately. It seems to be everywhere, from Facebook, Reddit, and especially Twitter. It became very big very quickly when it came out on Netflix on December 21st, 2018. Then came the memes. Oh god, the memes. The first I heard of Bird Box came from the memes, and now evidently there is something called “The Bird Box Challenge” which I guess is just doing things with a blindfold on. If you want to do that, that’s fine but just be safe. Like don’t drive your car with a blindfold. Bad idea.

Bird Box been much talked about since then, and I do sort of feel like the movie was over-hyped through social media. However, this might of been some genius marketing from Netflix, which I tend to believe, especially since I don’t find all of the memes that funny. But, it did do a good job of making people feel “left out” for having not seen the film yet. Even when I told some of my friends I watched Bird Box so I could write about it for this blog they mentioned they were wondering what it was and why so many people have been talking about it. I can’t confirm that Netflix wanted this to happen, but it definitely ended up working in their favor, as they reported big numbers of viewers during the first week.

With that all being said, let’s take a look at the movie taken away from the culture surrounding it, and the hype.

The Story

Bird Box for the most part is a simple story, or at least a simple concept. Sandra Bullock plays Malorie, a pregnant woman who’s main character trait seems to be not being good at connecting to people, and a big part of the story deals with her not wanting to have a child even though she is already pregnant. While leaving a hospital a mysterious thing begins to happen as people see some sort of creature and turn suicidal. She eventually finds a house to hide in with some other characters, and that is where the majority of the actual story takes place.

the film does do something a little odd on this account though, it takes place during two separate time periods and switches between them. By doing this you get to see Malorie and the people in the house during the time directly following this phenomenon starting to happen, and also a period 5 years later where Malorie is alone with two kids heading down a river to what they hope is a safe place. As a post-apocalyptic film, this actually fulfills two different common tropes of the genre. You get to see the world change, and also the world once it has changed. My only issue with this was the river segments start off the film, and sort of ruins a little bit of the tension set up in the house segments. However, it does do some interesting things with this format, so it’s not all a loss.

Not to go in to too many specifics, but the film has some interesting rules. For example, the main crux of the story is that people can’t see the creature, or they will go suicidal. However, there is a little bit of a twist on this about halfway through the movie that some people, hinted to be mostly criminal insane people, are able to see the creature and instead of wanting to commit suicide want to make other people see the creatures. This is an interesting twist because it adds an outside element to the horror, as the main characters have more to deal with than simply trying to figure out how to navigate around without seeing the creature.

All in all, the story is not necessarily something new. It actually reminded me of a few different Stephen King films and books while I watched it, and I could even see if the original book the film was based on was inspired by King. At times it reminds me of the people stuck in the grocery store in the film The Mist, where all the characters are stuck in a grocery store and right off the bat you are sort of given glimpses into the characters. Most of the characters in that were sort of weakly characterized, given a few lines to let you know who they were before they started butting heads. Bird Box does this kind of characterization a little better, as you do get sort of introduced to all the characters but some of the end up being a little less one-note than you first assume, especially John Malkovich’s character, which I will go into later. This kind of survival, post-apocalyptic people stuck in a house idea has been done before, but for the most part Bird Box makes it a little more compelling, if only by the concept of the apocalyptic scenario.

The Cast

I would have to say that one of Bird Box‘s main strengths, other than perhaps some really well done shots throughout the film, is the cast. Sandra Bullock as Malorie is interesting, and you feel like you want to know more about her and her past as the film goes on. You also see how she grows into a survivalist throughout the film, and her character development ties in with the theme of the movie. She is still a great actress, and hopefully her role in this movie will be getting her more films in the future.

Another great actress who sadly doesn’t get a whole lot of screentime is Sarah Paulson. Sarah Paulson is probably best known for her work in American Horror Story, and while she doesn’t get too much play in this film you do get to see a good range of emotion and you really feel in touch with her character. Unfortunately, a lot of her lines are about horses, because I guess the screenwriter really wanted you to know that she trains horses.

Someone I was very happy to see in this film was John Malkovich. John Malkovich is an american icon. To me, at least. He is well known for many movies, obviously including Being John Malkovich (which I unfortunately still haven’t seen) but I enjoyed him as a hammy, dramatic director in Shadow of the Vampire (which also has Willem Dafoe as an actual real-life Nosferatu). He is good at coming off as relatable but also can play evil really well. He lies somewhere between the both in this film, playing the resident asshole for the house segments. He bitches about everything, threatens people with his shotgun and proclaims his new-found life motto of “There are two kinds of people, the assholes, and the dead”. He is an absolute joy to watch in this movie, and for a mostly one-note character other than a few redeemable moments, he really makes the character come to life.

Another interesting actor is Tom Hollander. I know Tom Hollander from a lot of British things I watch, notably the great movie In The Loop. Last year he also showed up in Bohemian Rhapsody. I’m glad to see he’s working in some bigger movies between that and Bird Box. I think he got a great part in this movie. He gets to be an insane person, and I can’t really go into much more than that, but he’s able to act a little evil and from the moment he appears in the movie he just seems a little off. I didn’t know his name until I looked it up for this review, but I hope he also can get a few more roles off of this film, because he is a rather good actor that I feel isn’t in enough stuff.

And… The rest. I’ll be honest I don’t know much of the other cast members, but the main names are Machine Gun Kelly, Trevante Roades, and Jacki Weaver. Unfortunately, I didn’t find their parts all that interesting, except maybe Trevante Roades. Everyone did a great job, but besides Roades there just wasn’t that much for them to do. He has some nice speeches and dialogue, but I also feel his character was a little underwritten, but that may just be me. Everyone did a manageable job, but didn’t pop as much as the others. I guess the kids were alright as well, they didn’t talk much, and that was probably a good thing considering how well young kid actors usually act.

The Look

The film, for the most part, looks beautiful. There are tons of great shots throughout the film, from the sweeping shots of the river to intimate shots of characters interacting with each other. For the most part, however, it doesn’t do anything mind-blowing on that account. I would call the shots competent, they get the job done and portray the right information.

A few things that actually impressed didn’t necessarily have to with shot structure though. One of the very interesting things they do in the film is the use of fog and wind. Since you never exactly see the creature, You can see that it’s approaching from the wind pushing leaves or other things. It reminds me a little bit of the Japanese film Tag, where a school girl is chased by an invisible presence that also is shown through wind and blowing leaves. They also use fog as a mood setter, there are times both on the river and on the streets where the fog is hanging there like it’s own presence, thick, slow-moving and obscuring. The fog is mostly pretty subtle, so I think it really helps increase some of the tension.

Other than that, I think there are a few shots they put in that really help the tension. Throughout the film there are some cut-aways to POV’s of the characters and what little they can see with their blindfolds on. I think this is one of the most important shots they added to the film, because it really gets you in the mindset of the characters and just how little they can actually see. Every time they cut this I was desperate to get some sort of visual information to tell what was going on, and then I remembered that this is constantly happening to the main character. I think it’s much more effective than if they had just cut to black, since you can tell there is still some visual information, but if something seems to be in front of you, it’s actually scarier to see a shadow of it than just darkness. I think these shots honestly helped the film immensely, and if I had to applaud the filmmakers for any one decision it would be this.

The Themes

(Okay, for this section, there will be full-blown spoilers. If you’d prefer to miss them, you can skip to Final Thoughts. )

Bird Box deals with several themes throughout. It’s an interesting concept for an apocalypse, and throughout the film brings up some subtle and not-so-subtle commentaries on human nature.

One theme that is strongly hinted at is that you have to do horrible things to survive. Going back there only being “The Assholes and The Dead”, by the end of the movie, most of the characters are dead, and in fact John Malkovich’s character, the asshole character who would probably get their comeuppance early in other movies, is one of the last survivors until you’re just down to Malorie, her love interest Tom and the kids. In a way, he’s right. Machine Gun Kelly’s character and the cop steal the car from the house and leave everyone else. And even when Gary is let into the house, though John Malkovich’s character treated him horribly, he was right. To survive, sometimes you have to be an asshole, and this is also an interesting thought considering the people who aren’t suicidal from the creature are forcing people to die. Maybe them showing other people the creature is tied in somehow to their survival, but that’s getting into theories.

The other big theme that they try and show throughout the movie is motherhood. It’s obviously a big struggle for Malorie, as she starts the movie not even wanting to be pregnant, and may be possibly considering putting her child up for adoption when it’s born. However, she ends up being forced not to only take care of her child, but also the child of the other survivor who has a child and then is killed. She struggles with this for 5 years, not naming them anything behind Boy and Girl. In a way, Malorie learns that she must hope, and even if people are going to hurt her, including her children, that she must love them. In a way, when she releases the birds from the titular bird box at the end of the film, she is letting go her fears of connecting to people and her children. This is made less subtle by her also finally naming them, but I think besides it being a little convenient all at once, makes you feel a little better about her character development.

Final Thoughts

So in the end, is Bird Box a good movie? yes, and no. It’s an interesting concept, and some very interesting things are done with it, but overall it seems like not enough writing was done with it, and it might have needed some script changes. However, the directing and cinematography was well done, and the acting was pretty good, so I think it deserves a watch. I think it is much better as a concept than it maybe was in execution at the end, but that is also one of the best things about it.

Luckily they made the decision to not show the creature. The creature is the biggest mystery in the film, and you never see it. You see shadows, leaves, and always feel like it’s lingering just outside of frame when it’s near. and that is one of the strong points. There was a design for the creature, but I think it probably looks more interesting in your minds eye than it actually would. The mystery of the creature and what it is is the most fascinating part of the film, and while some are upset it wasn’t explained in the end, I think that heightens the tension of what it was.

~ So, what did you think of Bird Box? Did you like it? Did you hate it? What’s your favorite theory or idea you had while watching it? I watched this movie for this review, and was more interested than I expected. Let me know what you think in the comments! I hope to do a post about Black Mirror: Bandersnatch soon, but it might not be until next week. Cheers! William Alexander