Maggie movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews....

Maggie is a disease drama following the story of a teenager girl named Maggie who is infected with a terminal and highly contagious zombie-like virus, leaving her with a few weeks before needing to be quarantined. However, the main focus of the story is the struggle of her father, Wade, who has to go through slowling losing his daughter, and maybe having to kill her. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Wade, and his both his first zombie movie and real dramatic role. It also stars Abigail Breslin as Maggie.

In this day and age of zombies infecting pop culture like zombies infect a city, you'd be hard pressed to find anything that stands out. Most zombie films are low grade B-movies or horror/comedies, and most zombie video games are either harrowing stories or violent shooters. The point being that in order for a zombie film (or any zombie anything) to really catch someones eye is if it brings something new to the table, which is exactly what Maggie does. This isn't a zombie killing action film, or even that much of a zombie film. The titular Maggie spends almost the entire film as (mostly) a human, slowly deteriorating. In this, Maggie sets itself apart from the crowd and is unique enough so people can actually notice it within a crowded market of zombie entertainment.

Abigail Breslin does a fantastic job in the film, which was for the most part to be expected. Having been an oscar nominee and shown her acting depth and emotional range, it's not all that surprising that her performance in this movie is fantastic. The real question on everyones mind is whether or not Shwarzenegger can sell a serious and dramatic role like this. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that all these years of acting has payed off for Arnold, and that this is far & beyond his best performance. His emotional range and depth is stronger than ever, and he's so good in this movie that you completely forget that he was a terminator, and even his accent doesn't get in the way. If this movie is a win for anyone, it's a win for Arnold.

Zombie entertainment these days usually falls under two categories, harrowing & depressing, or fun & ridiculous. With everything I've said, I'm sure you've figured out that Maggie is the former. Much like some of the best zombie fiction such as Last of Us, Maggie gets into the emotional stuff pretty quickly and stays there for the entire running time of the film. Between Schwarznegger and Breslins performances, as well as the soundtrack, cinematograpy, and the writing, this film at times is a total downer. This film is such a bummer by the end that it managed to stick with me throughout the day.

Final Rating
Okay, so Maggie is a total downer. Don't be alarmed, I mean that in a good way, this is a movie that manages to tug your heart strings and eventually rip them right out. The writing, direction, music, and the way it's filmed set it all up, but in the end it's the performances of the two leads that sell this film. That being said, I can't honestly recommend it for everyone, because A, it's a really sad movie, and B, it's a slow film. It isn't fast paced and it's not a severely entertaining film. That being said, it's an impressive movie and one of my favorites of the year.

Maggie
4/5