Bird Box is a 2018 post-apocalyptic suspense movie starring Sandra Bullock and is an adaptation of the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman. Directed by Susanne Bier, the movie follows Malorie (Sandra Bullock), a young mother of two attempting to navigate a dangerous world without sight.
An unknown entity, once viewed by the human eye, is causing mass suicides. Fearing for the life of her unborn child, Malorie seeks refuge with a group of survivors.
How to Stream or Download Bird Box
You can stream it or you can download the movie from Netflix and it is the only platform on which it is available. The download can be performed with a mobile Netflix app. This will allow you to watch the movie while being offline.
The Review
This dark thriller asks the audience a simple question: how long would you survive without sight? The story follows Malorie in both the past and the present. In the current day, she attempts to travel down a river with two children, named Boy and Girl.
When the film jumps to the past, the then-pregnant Malorie experiences the collapse of society under the threat of an unknown terror. Part sci-fi and part horror, Bird Box gives viewers a tense and relatable story about survival and the fear of what we cannot see.
We meet up with Malorie and her sister at a hospital, where Malorie receives an ultra-sound and decides what she wants to do with her baby. Fiercely independent but slightly aloof, Malorie struggles with her impending motherhood. On the way back from the hospital, chaos breaks out, as civilians are seen committing suicide without cause or reason. During the destruction, Malorie holes up with a group of survivors in a suburban home, questioning their next movie.
Overall, the story of Bird Box is effective and interesting. There’s a huge air of mystery throughout the movie, as the viewer is never quite sure who or what is causing the suicides. Whenever the group ventures outside of the home, they blindfold themselves and explore by touch and sound alone.
Besides exploring more mysterious terrors, Bird Box also brings up the human element. In a world quickly collapsing, the film appropriately highlights that the worst enemy might be humanity itself.
The cast of characters we meet along the way range from underdeveloped and unnecessary to honest and interesting. Malorie and a few other housemates like Tom (Trevante Rhodes), Douglas (John Malkovich), and Olympia (Danielle MacDonald) are well acted and decently written.
Other characters, like Felix (Colson Baker) and Lucy (Rosa Salazar) merely exist to fill the screen and waste time. As an ensemble piece, the characters in Bird Box make up a decent whole. However, when picked apart singularly, there aren’t too many interesting faces in the bunch.
Where Bird Box stumbles with mediocre performances and flawed execution, it excels with great atmosphere and interesting concepts. The novel by Josh Malerman (also titled Bird Box) is an excellent foundation to draw inspiration from, and while the movie doesn’t do an excellent job of adapting the novel’s story, it provides a serviceable summary.
There’s a surprising amount of nuance in this modern horror movie, and for the most part, the story feels honest and grounded. It’s not the most action-packed or frightening suspense film, but it’s a decent watch nonetheless.
