Sandra Bullock delivers, but “Bird Box” is an overhyped mess
By Jack Murphy// A&E Editor
Netflix’s breakout horror film about invisible monsters that cause people to kill themselves on the spot by just looking at them, “Bird Box” stars Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, and John Malkovich just to name a few. As mentioned above, monsters of some sort have come to Earth and with them have brought the apocalypse. “Bird Box” follows Sandra Bullock when the apocalypse begins, and five years after the apocalypse began as she takes two children in a rowboat down a river. “Bird Box” blew up online shortly after the film’s release, due to word of mouth and memes. While the memes are great, public audiences are split on whether “Bird Box” is a good movie or not. Is the “Bird Box” deserved of all the hype it’s been receiving? Absolutely not.
Let’s begin with the positives first, Sandra Bullock is great. She does a great job conveying emotion in the traumatic experience that is the end of the world, and she is a likable protagonist. Jon Malkovich is great as this cranky old man, whose cruel, but also a realist. Trevante Rhodes also does a good job with what he’s given, being another likable character among a group of survivors. The sets look nice, the cinematography is good, and there are some very tense scenes, including one in a car with five of our main characters. Now with all the positives out of the way, let’s get into the negatives, beginning with the horrendous structure.
I don’t know whose idea it was to have the film go back and forth between the beginning of the apocalypse and Sandra Bullock with the kids, but it’s so baffling to me that people sat down and decided this was a good way to structure our film. By structuring in the way that director Susanne Bier and her team did, every time “Bird Box” is brought back to present day with Sandra Bullock and the kids, tension is erased and parts of the story are spoiled. Plus, since it’s just Sandra Bullock and two kids, and in the past Sandra Bullock is pregnant and another pregnant woman played by Danielle Macdonald is introduced not long after, anyone can put the puzzle pieces together figuring out what happens. Also, there are nine people in the group at one point in the past, and only one of them remains, which leads to figuring what happens again. If “Bird Box” was just structured in chronological order, this could have the potential of being a good horror film.
The writing about what happens when one sees these creatures is also confusing at times. Two things happen when a person sees one of these monsters. One, they kill themselves instantly, or two, they try to make other people look at the monsters. What makes this confusing is a character introduced in the second act that is revealed to be one of these people that tries to force others to see. However, he seems like a normal guy for a couple of day’s (in the film) and then suddenly a switch is flipped, and now he’s crazy. Do people become like this instantly or does it develop over time? Is it different for each person? “Bird Box” doesn’t tell us.
Finally, the kid actors are atrocious. Kid actors have the potential to completely bring down a film. For example, “Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace” or “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” just to name a couple. Even though the child actors are supposed to be five years old in the film, they’re not giving good performances what-so-ever and that’s all on the Bier. Compared to the structural problems and the writing, it’s not that big of an issue, but these actors are in a good 45 percent of the film, making it a distraction every time they’re on screen.
Overall, “Bird Box” has a very interesting concept, but it fails to execute on the concept, making it an average horror film with a great lead actress. There are countless other issues that I did not even mention because I don’t want to have an entire page dedicated to my criticisms with “Bird Box.” I’m gonna give “Bird Box” a D+, although I can see why many would enjoy “Bird Box,” I personally just don’t understand the hype.
Netflix’s “Bird Box” is a horror story starring Sandra Bullock. Photo by Netflix