There are the brutal and fairly beautiful "present day" scenes. They are difficult as director Susanne Bier films them with uncompromising apocalyptic fervor. She embraces the darkness of the premise and its frightening. But it's also gorgeous. Set in a natural setting, Bier films it lushly, lit beautifully. The contrast between how the film looks and the story it is telling is vividly powerful.
But it is interspersed with the "history," how we got from regular world to this terrifying future. And this part of the film has a more basic pedantic approach. I don't know if this is Bier's stylistic choice but it regardless it didn't work for me. Its overly simplistic, fairly formulaic take weakened the rest of it for me. The film tries to deal with is "reasons" the explanation for what's going on a little too on the nose. I think I would have appreciated a more symbolic story telling technique.
And then the end has a bit of an anti-climactic feeling. It doesn't resolve anything, and not in a lingering pessimistic way but in a tacked on way like they didn't know how to end it. It is one of those stories that we get to the end and don't feel like we got much out of it.
The films isn't completely a misfire. There are scary moments and Bullock along with most of the cast are quite strong. But Bird Box remains a little bit "meh." Yet it certainly had moments where you felt like it was going to offer something more.
Bird Box
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovitch, Danielle Macdonald, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Sarah Paulson, Lil Ray Howery, BD Wong, Tom Hollander
Director: Susanne Bier
Writer: Eric Heisserer
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