Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
CIFF 2016 - The Girl with All the Gifts
So a few nights ago I saw The Girl with All the Gifts, a zombie movie of sorts from director Colm Mccarthy. The film takes place what can be assumed is about a decade after a cordyceps pandemic infects the majority of the human race, and turns them into zombie-like creatures called Hungries. However, things take a turning point when children infected with the virus somehow show cognitive functioning, which leads to our main character, Melanie, a zombie with cognitive functioning and conscious thought. It's been a while since a really good zombie movie came out, so I was really looking forward to seeing The Girl with All the Gifts, and despite a few shortcomings I thought the movie did a really good job with the concept.
First of all I gotta talk about the lead performance by Sennia Nenua. 2016 has been a surprisingly good year for performances by young actors, Hollywood seems to recognize now that there are really talented young actors out there. And this is no exception, she did a really good job with the amount of quiet and subtle moments she had to play, along with the unnerving zombie acting. Which leads me to the other great performances here, the zombies! The zombie acting in this movie is truly unnerving, and probably because of how empty and frighteningly human the zombies in this feel.
The real hook behind this film is the story, and how unique this film is in the way it conveys it. In every zombie movie, there's usually a bunch of frequently re-used tropes, but this movie doesn't have a lot of them. The zombies in this aren't the dumb, shambling zombies we're used to, they're not only fast but they're even intelligent to a certain degree. It makes the film much more engaging to watch knowing the enemy poses a legitimate threat, rather than easily stoppable cannon fodder like The Walking Dead.
However, that's not to say it's perfect, in fact it's far from it. The unfortunate thing about this films flaws is that for the most part they don't really happen. Right up until the ending this film had me hooked with an engaging story and likable characters, and while I won't spoil anything, I'll just say I found the ending to be deeply unsatisfying. It's kind of rushed, it comes out of nowhere, it was out of character for the characters involved, and story-wise it didn't make a whole lot of sense. From what I read after seeing this movie, the way the book ends is similar, however from what I read it seemed to make more sense in the book. And movies should stand on their own anyway, I shouldn't have to look up Sparknotes for the ending to make sense.
Final Rating
Is it worth seeing? Overall, I'd say yes. The ending made this film suffer greatly, but it didn't ruin it for me. The acting is still really good and the storytelling is unique enough to make it worth watching. I'd say for this one, read the book first, because the ending might make a lot more sense if you do.
Is it worth seeing? Overall, I'd say yes. The ending made this film suffer greatly, but it didn't ruin it for me. The acting is still really good and the storytelling is unique enough to make it worth watching. I'd say for this one, read the book first, because the ending might make a lot more sense if you do.
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