Director: Henry Hobson
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin
Gene: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Synopsis: A teenage girl in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During her transformation, her loving father stays by her side.
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Maggie is on the cusp of something great. I can see the brilliance in what it was striving for. However, I think it fell a tab bit short in reaching certain goals. Maggie is about a world after the zombie apocalypse which we haven’t really seen. There was Land Of The Dead, but let’s be honesty that movie was shit. Maggie take place after humans regain control after the outbreak. After years of confusion and death, we establish a system of eliminating and deposing of the infected. Maggie, played by Abigail Breslin, runs away from home after being infected by the virus. Her father, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, finds her after two weeks of searching. He discovers that he has a limited amount of time with his soon-to-be dead daughter before having to hand over Maggie to be quarantined.
The first thing that I loved was the film’s take of humans combating the outbreak and actually making progress. It was oddly refreshing. The government was able to get back on it’s feet with newly implemented rules and regulations to regain somewhat of a world they once had. I think zombie movies should go this route more often and stop giving us the same old rehashed stories, over and over. The second thing that I absolutely loved was the film’s innovation of using an oxymoron to make the audience ponder. The cleverness behind this film is that they treat the outbreak as a taboo, terminal disease. So you as the viewer can replace the infection with any social or physical issue. Regardless, if is to be about race, sexual orientation, or even something like A.I.D.S. or cancer. This immediately helps you to connect emotionally due to its relevancy.
John Scott III (the writer) takes this empathy one step further by making the interactions between those not infected and those infected possible. You can hug, kiss (not on the lips), hangout out with any of the infected and not catch the virus. One scene in particular is at the doctor’s office. I won’t give nothing away, but you feel the message loud and clear. I felt like a jerk, and I’m from New York.
I bet that’s the same face, he made when his wife found out about the maid… Was that too soon?
Concerning the characters, I’m fifty/fifty. I absolutely hated the daughter which is crazy. I love Abigail Breslin in anything she has been in. But, her role as Maggie, I wanted her to get shot in the head with a musket, thirty minutes into the movie and have Arnold’s character grieve for the rest of the film. They wrote her to be an annoying teenager who you don’t want to feel sorry for and who you can’t feel sorry for. Every teenager doesn’t have to hate the world. At least not when you are about to die. The film tries to make you feel something for her, but it falls flat.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the best performance in his career up-to-date. He didn’t say or do too much, but you felt what he was going through. You witnessed the pain, the confusion, the anger, the happiness, the sadness through his facial expressions alone. If you are reading this Arnold, please do more drama. You are pretty darn good at it. The stepmother played by Joely Kim Richardson was okay. She didn’t knock it out the ballpark, but she held her own and that’s more than anybody can ask for.
The cinematography was great and don’t let no one tell you different. In my opinion, Maggie is the best shot Zombie film ever!!! You feel and experience a glimpse of the grim depression all around this world. Every death felt unfortunate, and I firmly believe it only came across that way because of the way it was shot.
However, this movie needs some work. There are no two ways around that. The first problem are the scares. Maggie has one scare or jump scene, if that qualifies as that. If I watch a comedy, I expect to laugh. You can have deep undertones and a dark subject, but you better make me laugh. If I watch a horror film, I don’t need to bite my finger nails, but I would like to be somewhat afraid. Secondly, a little more back story might have done this movie more justice as well. I know the movie was supposed to be zeroed in on the daughter and father. I just can’t help, but wonder what kind of movie it would have been, if they would have invested fifteen more minutes establishing a back story.
Overall, if you are looking for a horror flick that keeps you on the edge of your seat and provides adrenaline pumping fear … DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! You’ll be sadly disappointed, because your money would be wasted. However, if you are a dare devil and feeling a little experimental, I highly recommend that you give Maggie a shot. It won’t blow your mind or anything, but you will definitely have your mind thinking.
I Give ‘Maggie’ Solid 7 out of 10
In the hands of a better team, Maggie could have been something really special.
