So I went to book tickets to see Pixar’s new film yesterday
and while looking for times I noticed a film called Maggie.
It is staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, being a big Schwarzenegger
fan I did a little squee of excitement and watched a trailer. The trailer didn’t
show a traditional Schwarzenegger film; instead it seemed like a heart-breaking
thought provoking film. I was surprised this had slipped my to watch list, and
more to my surprise it was showing for less than a week. So I booked tickets to
see it that evening!
I am so glad I did.
To sum up the overall story line there is a Zombie virus that
has swept through the world killing crops and infecting people. We join the story as
the virus has been brought somewhat under control by quarantining people away
from the general population. Unlike the walking dead and other
Schwarzenegger’s character (Wade Vogel) is the father of a girl
called Maggie Vogel (played by Abigail Breslin) whose mother has passed away years before. They now live with his new wife and
2 children who go to stay with family so the focus is on the father daughter relationship
throughout the film.
The film starts with Maggie running away and Wade finds her
in hospital with a bite wound.
It’s heart-breaking
watching the deterioration of a young girl’s health and watching a father deal
with this, knowing he will eventually lose her to the virus. There are hard
decisions to be made and although it is a fictional virus, you can’t help but feel the
pain for family’s suffering with terminal illnesses of loved ones.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is great in this too. This is a completely
different role for him, usually his presence is well known and takes over the
film, and when fighting robots or defending mankind that works well. He plays a
heart-broken father exceptionally well, portraying such love for his daughter
in a subtle way that never once over powers the film
This allows Abigail Breslin's character to the main focus of the film. She also plays her character exceptionally well.. An angsty teen who shows a great love for her family and friends. She portrays a cool character but you see her weaken as the film goes on and moments of pure fear and regret are shown.
Overall I really enjoyed this film and I think it is highly
under advertised and underrated. The pace of the film is slow but steady all
the way through but at no point does it feel like it is dragging or boring. It
is a bit gory at times, but no unnecessarily so. Unlike a lot of zombie apocalypse
films this has a feeling of reality attached to it, if there were such a virus I
believe that is how the world would end up being.
Heck I went ahead and gave it 5 stars out of 5 because for me it didn't let me down at all. It is a film that will pull at your heart strings while
getting to watch a Zombie movie. Although it is a low budget indie film, the quality
of the story telling and acting shows that you don’t need big money and big
booms to make an amazing film!
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