This one had been on the queue for a while. Ever since I saw it was available on Amazon. It’s a book my wife had read and really enjoyed, so there was much anticipation. Did they do the book justice? Or did they muck it up?
A bit of both, I guess?
THE BLURB:
In the future, a strange fungus has changed nearly everyone into a thoughtless, flesh-eating monster. When a scientist and a teacher find a girl who seems to be immune to the fungus, they all begin a journey to save humanity.
WHAT WORKED:
The girl. Good lord, Sennia Nanua is wonderful. And the idea that she is a SENTIENT ZOMBIE is freaking awesome. What a great take on the genre that I don’t think I’ve seen before. She seems like just another normal, charming, smart girl…but it’s a lie. She’s dangerous, and no longer human…
…but does that make her evil? Does that make her something to destroy, or is she still a person, albeit different?
Those core questions aren’t exactly new the genre (hello I am Legend anyone?), but it is presented in a character that I’m not sure I’ve seen before, and that’s fun. Add that with great casting, and you have the foundation for a potentially great movie. GAH! They had solid gold with this movie. I was *in* on Melanie. Loved her. One of the more engaging and interesting characters I’ve *ever* seen in a zombie film, hands down.
There are also several action sequences, namely a surprise attack in the lab, that are fantastic and surprising. The opening is also wonderful, and how they reveal to us that the children in this fucked up school are actually zombies. It’s a perfect example of showing and not telling.
The relationship between Melanie and Ms. Justineau is wonderful. Perfect pairing, and you buy it from beginning to end.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK:
The ending.
I mean, it’s a pretty MAJOR decision that our character makes, one that will affect everyone she cares for that’s human…and it just seemed completely unjustified. That was the biggest problem with this movie.
That, and how once we’re off the military base, the movie loses almost all of its special-ness that made it unique and refreshing to begin with. It becomes just like every other zombie movie we’ve ever watched.
The ‘villains’ in this movie are woefully two-dimensional and under-justified. We have so much empathy for Melanie, it presents us with what SHOULD have been the impossible and difficult choice of how to treat her: as a person, or as a monster. But, our villains don’t seem to have any struggle with that. They treat her as a monster from beginning to end, and because we as the audience don’t, it just makes them terrible people.
It all adds up to a film that lost steam as it plodded towards its end. It was neither surprising, nor was it inevitable what happens in the conclusion, and I was left wondering where it had all gone wrong. Damn. This movie should have been so SOOO good.
5 out of 10 – killer opening, sagging middle, and disappointing end