Maggie

'MAGGIE': Four Stars (Out of Five)

An indie zombie flick, made on a budget of just $4 million, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin! It was directed by first time feature filmmaker Henry Hobson and written by first time feature film writer John Scott 3. The movie is actually more of a dramatic character study, than an action or horror film, dealing with the relationship between a teenage girl, in the Midwest, and her loving father. The catch is that the girl is infected with a deadly zombie virus. It's definitely not the type of movie that a lot of Schwarzenegger fans are expecting, but I really liked it.

The story is set in a small Midwest town, where a virus, called the necroambulist virus, has broken out. It slowly turns it's victims into zombies and the government deals with the problem by throwing 'the infected' into isolation wards. Maggie (Breslin) is a young teenage girl, who was recently infected by the disease. Her father, Wade (Schwarzenegger), must do his best to care for her, in her last days, and also come to terms with what must be done, when she finally changes.

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect, going into this movie. The premise, and idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in a low-budget zombie drama flick, were both very intriguing to me. I am a little disappointed it doesn't have more action, and gruesome thrills, but it is a very well made drama film. Arnold gives, arguably, his best performance to date, and Breslin is pretty impressive as well. I wish there would have been a little more to the story, than just another drama flick about a terminally ill teen, and her relationship with her friends and family. It's almost like a zombie version of 'MY SISTER'S KEEPER' or 'THE FAULT IN OUR STARS', except with a little Schwarzenegger thrown in as well. I think he's making a lot of wise career choices lately, and he's starting to resemble Clint Eastwood, more and more, with each movie. This isn't a great film but it is a nice entry in Arnold's impressively expanding resume.

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I think one of the reasons this film has a fairly low score is that a lot of people are seeing Arnie/zombies and thinking they are going to be watching a big budget blockbuster with Arnie running around blowing heads off. This, for me, was much better. It was slow moving, thoughtful and Arnie's performance as Wade in it was a revelation to someone who has never been a huge fan. Breslin's depiction of a troubled teen, Maggie, facing her own mortality and horrific end was subtle but effective. A lot of people have been questioning why make it a zombie film and not just any infection but without Maggie's disease making her ultimately dangerous, Wade would not have had to wrestle with his conscience in what he had to do, making the whole film pointless. If you preferred The Road to The Walking Dead then this is the film for you. If you're an Arnie fan expecting the usual fodder then I would suggest skipping this and digging out your Terminator box-set.

First off I just want to say that this is my first review of any film. I attended the world premiere of Maggie last night at the Tribeca Film Festival and I am also a huge Arnold fan. It was great seeing him perform in a different (dramatic) role.

The cinematography in this film was absolutely stunning. From the location setting, the small town, old house; it was all well put together. I thought the cast was great and Arnold did a great job in his role but this film was focused on Abigail Breslin. And she stole the show. She outperformed the rest of the cast and made each viewer connected to her character very closely. Abigail had many scenes alone in this film and without giving too much away, there were times you can feel her pain and sort of understand what she was experiencing as the film progressed.

Maggie really shed new light to the zombie genre because it showed intimately how a family member was deeply affected by an outbreak. A father and daughter bond filled with love and courage and the chemistry played on screen between Arnold and Abigail was fantastic. Each character showed great passion throughout the film and it was well directed by Henry Hobson, his directorial debut.

I recommend this film to viewers who are interested in character development, great cinematography, a well written script, and a solid meaningful ending. Please don't come into this movie expecting The Walking Dead/ Zombieland type of action film because this isn't it. Hopefully Arnold will take on more of these roles in the future and from what we saw in Maggie, Abigail has a great career ahead of her. 9/10

This is in many ways a good, strange and different film, it is a zombie film, but not in the way you would expect, this is a drama about a dad finding and taking care of his daughter in her last days of an illness. The illness being she is turning into a zombie after she got bit and everything is treated in this film as it is just a terminal disease, there is no cure, there is a time frame, there is some signs to what is happening, but in the end you can't survive it.

It is a slow moving drama and really is the storyline and the characters and their interactions that is the film, we are talking a time frame of a week or so and we mainly follow Maggie and her dad and how they try to spend their last days together. We are slowly but steadily introduced to the plague that have been turning people into zombies and how people with the disease are being treated and eventually put away, because there is no cure, if you are bit, there are only three ways of going on, go to the camps where the rest of the zombies are kept, get some kind of shot that will kill you in a excruciating way or take the life of yourself by shooting, breaking your neck or other means.

It is a heartfelt movie that you really can't stop watching even though the story moves slowly ahead and it is not like any other zombie movie, it is insightful and interesting and really shows some aspects of life that has nothing to do with becoming a zombie, it could have been about any other terminal illness that can't be cured, but the zombie part is just a great twist to it all.

I was entertained and thoughtful after seeing it, it was really something other then I had expected.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

A contagious virus has spread across America that is causing the infected to slowly mutate in to cannibalistic zombies. Wade Vogel's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) would be one such person, a young girl grimly aware of her terrible predicament. As the inevitable closes in, father and daughter bond in a final, all encompassing way, before they're drawn towards a terrifying final outcome.

After his much hyped comeback a few years ago, Schwarzenegger has achieved what can only at best be called the most hit and miss results with his new batch of explosive, '80s flavoured action films. There was still something resembling an audience, but most people's tastes have cleaned up quite a bit. And so, out of nowhere, it seems, he delivers this latest offering, which on paper comes off just like one of his regular shoot 'em up type films, with him versus zombies. But instead, he's taken such a plot line and given it a more mature angle, as a more tender and heartfelt examination of the final days of a father and daughter, that shows a departure from his usual type of fare.

As more emotionally driven as the plot is, it doesn't really have the best sense of structure or direction, and instead seems to be driven more on a moody, lingering sense of atmosphere and tension, with the lighting drained out and brightened up in subsequent shots to affect the mood. Debut feature length director Henry Hobson has shown a certain knack and sense of style behind the camera, but he needs to go back to school a little on his structural narrative abilities, and crafting a film that has somewhere to go in spite of it's heart.

So, we have it, then, Arnie's most bizarre film, ever, a totally unexpected and different effort from him that's appeared out the blue. In spite of it's strangeness, it's better than anything he's done lately, and shows a more mature and emotional side developing after so many years. ***