My Thoughts on the Netflix Film: Bird Box

So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, then you’ve probably been hearing all about the Netflix original film Bird Box which is a horror, thriller, and post-apocalyptic film starring Sandra Bullock. I am a huge fan of Sandra Bullock and think she is just a fantastic and talented actress. I fell in love with her talent in the Speed films so I knew I had to watch anything that has her attached. Her comedic performances are phenomenal and her charisma is infectious. Well Bird Box is by no means a comedy. It is far from it, and Sandra is far from funny in this film, but I guess it depends on your sense of humor. In fact, her performance is very dark in the beginning of the film then takes a turn for the better towards the end to a caring and nurturing soul. Okay enough with me fan-girling Sandra. Lets talk more about the movie.

Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you want to view the film first then come back and tell me your thoughts!

So here’s the premise of the movie which is actually based on the book Bird Box by Josh Malerman. It’s set in southeast Michigan. One of the main characters Malorie, played by Sandra Bullock, is an artist who lives with her sister Jessica. Malorie has isolated herself from society and is also pregnant.

Okay so basically some entity has been released throughout the world causing people to see their worst fears and unfortunately commit suicide in the worst way possible. Within the first ten minutes of watching the movie, I almost shut it off because of the graphic nature.

Be that as it may, I of course continued because well it’s just a movie right and I was intrigued. I am in no way a fan of horror/suspense films, but I can definitely say it had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.

In order to survive, you absolutely cannot look at this entity or you will die.  Malorie’s sister Jessica ends up killing herself on the way home from the hospital so Malorie finds her way in a stranger’s house with other survivors. The movie does skip around quite a bit. Some parts take place in a house with the survivors of this entity coming together to try to survive. Some parts take place with Malorie and her two children, whom she named Boy and Girl, in the woods on a boat trying to make it to safety down a river.

Malorie and her children escape this entity and finally find sanctuary at a place for the blind. It is at this point, in my opinion, when Malorie’s eyes are finally open to hope, love, and the possibility of a new beginning.

My Thoughts

I mentioned that I almost didn’t watch the film due to the graphic nature, but I’m glad I did. I liked the idea of a mom doing everything within her power to protect her children. I’m a mom and would absolutely do all I could to make sure my children are safe from this cruel and wicked world.

Malorie started off as a woman in seclusion who only cared about herself and her needs. Then that maternal instinct finally kicked in, and she became a mother who wanted her children to know she loved and wanted the very best for them.

I didn’t like that the film skipped around a lot. It most definitely wasn’t in chronological order. I wasn’t a fan of watching people off themselves either. That was probably the hardest part of the film to sit through. Suicide is not something that people deal with easily, but unfortunately it is a topic that needs to be addressed.

There are so many people mentally hurting because of their deepest fears and darkest secrets that they are fearful to express to anyone about. I think this film brings light to that fact. Regardless of how hard it was to watch, it resonated with me in a major way that I will touch on in a later post.

Another issue that I think this film brings to light is the fact that rather than open our eyes and address our biggest fears head on, a lot of us would rather walk around blind and not face our issues. We would rather not know or see who that person really is that we see in the mirror daily. Even though those issues haunt us on a regular basis, we just pretend they don’t exist which in the long run could cause more harm than good.

I don’t want to come off as too deep by over analyzing this film so let me just conclude by saying the actors were amazing. No matter how major or minor of a role they portrayed, each one expressed fear and intense emotion. They were so believable in their roles. Most films in this genre contain sub-par acting with cheesy and ridiculous lack of emotion at best.

At the end of the day, it is just a movie for entertainment and enjoyment. However, it does have a lot of deep meaning that I think a lot of us could interpret differently. Let me know in the comments what you thought about the film if you’ve seen it yet. I would rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars just because nothing is absolutely perfect!