The Girl with All the Gifts

I've read the book and also the second "the boy on the bridge" and only found later that it was made into a motion picture. Having enjoyed the books so much I was curious to see whether the movie followed the same storyine, character descriptions, etc...

Having read the story first I was a bit disappointed with the film. The film is still great but you won't get the whole story in a film. It would have been better done if it was released as 10 episodes or something.

I'm still giving 7 stars as it was still good to watch.

... from the U. K., directed by Colm McCarthy. After an alien fungus has decimated the Earth's population, transforming anyone not an infant into a mindless zombie-like creature with a taste for human flesh, a contingent of British soldiers and scientists are hard at work trying to find a cure. Their hope lies with a group of children, all of whom were infected as infants, and who have grown up without the usual zombie-like symptoms. They appear and act normally, but they still can be overcome by a taste for living flesh that turns them violently animalistic. When the base falls to overwhelming numbers of the infected, a small group consisting of the most accomplished girl from the ranks of the children (Sennia Nanua), a sympathetic teacher (Gemma Arterton), a gruff sergeant (Paddy Considine), a new recruit soldier (Fisayo Akinade), and the coldly calculating head scientist (Glenn Close) head into the ruins of London to search and rescue.

I'm always surprised when filmmakers can find something new to do with a zombie movie, and they've done it again here. Newcomer Nanua is terrific as the precocious infected girl who is happy to be in the outside world for the first time, little realizing the destruction all around her. Arterton, Considine and Close are all fine, as expected. I know most viewers are burned out on zombie flicks (and TV series), but this one is worth a look.

Before The Waking Dead came along, people thought the zombie subgenre was dead in the water. The zombie films for the most part just weren't able to capture the right tone and essence. So even though there's been a million of them and most of them are much of the same thing, I always appreciate the ones that bring something new and fresh to the genre. The Girl With All the Gifts does just that.

The British post-apocalyptic film takes place after most of the world has been decimated to due to an unknown fungal disease, with only a few military bases left. The twist here is that on this military base is a group of second generation children who are infected with the disease but are under control of their senses for the most part. That is, when they aren't smelling human flesh.

After several life threatening sequences, a few soldiers, a teacher, and one of those second generation children (named Melanie) embark on a trek to get to the next safe zone, with their base being overrun by zombies (or hungries as they call them). Melanie, a seemingly more intelligent and aware child, forms a special bond with the teacher, named Helen Justineau and played by Gemma Arterton. This is the one human connection that I think is worth caring about. Since you don't get much backstory on the soldiers, including one played well by Paddy Considine, you are almost forced into caring for the two. And that's the one thing I was constantly hoping we would get more of, character depth and backstory. It just becomes difficult to figure out who you're going to root for when you don't have much in way of their backstory to think about.

With that said, I appreciated that this film involved a different approach to the zombie genre. Yes, there is the subplot involving someone looking for a cure (which is always something that comes up) but the more calculated approach to the pacing, and reserved display of gore, The Girl With All the Gifts feels like a fresh entry into the genre. Heck, have we ever had our lead character be an second generation infected child? Just by those standards this was something original.

7.1/10

Okay, this is probably going to be one of those 'I just saw the movie recently so my opinion is still ridiculously over-inflated' sort of write-ups, so please bear that in mind.

Several years ago, I quit playing videogames but one of the last games that I played was The Last of Us which was an especially impressive post-apocalyptic zombie survival title. As far as gameplay went, it was actually repetitive and boring, but what was great about this particular game, was the heart-warming story and the wonderfully rich environment it created. Most people who played this game all came out of it with the same conclusion, "This would make a killer movie." This brought up all of the implications that its film adaptation would certainly end up sucking due to the infamous 'Game to Film' adaptation curse. If you are not familiar, this is the belief, argued by some, that no videogame has been successfully adapted to the screen and resulted in a great film, or at least a commonly acknowledged great film. Ever. Though this film will technically not count, The Girl with All the Gifts borrows a lot of stylistic elements from that game and owes it a great debt but, in the end, it is its own film and I must say, an exceptional one.

I am not going to go into any detail about this one yet because I know a lot of you will not have seen it. I went into it blind and I think that doing likewise will add to the experience for everyone. I will say it has some wonderful performances and looks every bit as beautiful as the game I mentioned above. This is top shelf storytelling with painfully gorgeous climax and while watching The Girl with All the Gifts, I was struggling to find anything to compare it to. It is certainly my favorite zombie film made this year, even surpassing the way above averageTrain to Busan . I would have to go back to 28 Days Later to find anything to rival it but I think I might like this even more than that game changer. So then what? Romero's original films? It seems a little unfair to compare it to the genesis of the genre but that is where I'd have to look. Is this the best zombie movie I've ever seen then? I dunno. It is definitely the coolest.

In my opinion, if you want zombies done right, you go to the English apparently.

28 Days Later/Shaun of the Dead/ The Girl with All the Gifts

they are positively shaming the rest of us

This movie is best going into with as little fore knowledge as possible, because when someone tells you the genre of this movie, your preconceptions will almost certainly skew your expectations and experience.

This is not a typical movie in its genre. It's a lot smarter and more thought provoking. While there are thrills, and lots of suspense, it's done in a much better way that is of service to the characters and the story, creating a slow build of dread rather than cheap jump scares.

A very good movie with excellent acting and casting. Sennia Nanua, who plays Melanie also did a phenomenal job, Gemma Arterton was solid as the protective and caring teacher Helen Justineau. Glenn Close was also good as the Doctor prepared to do almost anything to find a cure for the disease.

The whole cast did a very good job and the music complimented rather than overpowered the movie.

Worth seeing and I have watched it more than once.