Maggie

26th July 2015: 20:10: Bolton

This is not a Zombie-Movie

Devoid of colour, a feeling of real gloom, and the inevitable passing of a loved one.  Maggie is more a film about terminal illness in the family rather than the zombie apocalypse.

A viral outbreak that causes humans to slowly degenerate into flesh eating zombies over the course of 8 weeks has hit the planet.  Crops are being burnt as a way of trying to restore agriculture, quarantines are set up to euthenise the infected in a humane manner and work on a cure is pointless.  The whole world seems bleak and this is reflected in the cinematography.  There are many shots of landscapes, the family home and the colours are brown, grey, dull and paletteless, yet there always seems to be a splash of colour somewhere as if there is a glimmer of hope.

When Wade's (Schwarzenegger's) daughter is bit by an infected, he is given the option to take her home and care for her before quarantine, but knowing that the inevitable is on the horizon, Wade opts to care for her till the last moment.  Knowing that his daughter is dying and trying to give her the best possible "end-of-life".  She goes out with friends for a final party and one of the other kids is also infected, there is a pretty gruesome scene with appendage decay but it is handled well, and as Maggie (Abigail Breslin) reaches the final stages of her life and the contagion becomes a threat to the family, Wade has to question his motives.

Abigail Breslin is brilliant as usual and with her there are no faults, Joely Richardson plays her step mother and where I thought she would be running away from Maggie she always seems to be running towards her helping, although, she has not aged well.  It has been a while since I have seen a film with Joely, but I was a little shocked.  The only flaw, and believe me I am a massive fan, was Mr Schwarzengger himself, not his acting, because he pulls out all the stops to get it right, and does.  Arnold is a big, hulking Austrian with a thick Austrian accent, he himself does not fit into the American farming family and the character of Wade could have been played by any other actor, I am at a loss as to why Mr. S was chosen apart from having a big name attached to the property.

Maggie was a moving film for me, I knew from going into the cinema that it was not going to be a zombie film and this helped me prepare.  Upon leaving, the two guys in front of me exclaimed, "Well, that was sh*t".

Zombie fans need stay away, this is not your type of film.