The Carrier

This sounded mildly intriguing so we gave it a whirl. How I wish we hadn't. It started off OK, but quickly revealed itself as a very cheaply-made straight-to-video formula horror/thriller. It looked as though it may have been a pilot for a TV serial that never got made (can't think why). Most of the characters are either useless and unreliable or just plain psychos, like 'Eric' who goes around wrecking the group's chances of survival. According to the end credits, it was filmed 'around the back of B&Q in Basildon' or something like that. Avoid.

There are some interesting little set pieces here that, at the very least, keep the watcher interested. However the big problem is that the writers have a basic concept of 'plague on a plane' and no idea of how to flesh out the story, the characters or how to end the film.

The action is wooden, the character motivations are strange, to say the least, random things happen like people turn up to shoot at people and then just disappear.

However the scene with 'the arm' is quite harrowing, the opening scene is full of suspense and the counter play with the other pilot is well done. Shame they couldn't knit it all together.

Not a great movie by any stretch, but merely a somewhat good movie. My wife got this having no idea of the ratings, and I had read about it, expecting some utter crap movie. Honestly is is quite watchable, a bit low budget, but not nearly a bad movie. It is somewhat suspenseful and was a really good rainy weekend movie!

I think some of the really bad reviews are not real. A solid 5.5-6 movie. Acting is okay, effects a bit mediocre, but the music, filming and story are all fairly decent. The movie really got interesting after they got out of the sky and onto the ground! I wanted to lend a real view of this movie. So to sum up,a DECENT rental, you would do far worse. It is English made, and features and English cast, so those that are unable to watch anything that is not USA made or Big budget, just pass it by. For the rest, that want a good movie, give it a try!

Aside from the first couple of minutes (which were actually fairly promising, as a mother and her son try to escape London and the soldiers who were shooting anyone trying to get out of the city after the outbreak of a deadly disease) I was confused from the very beginning of this movie. Made in 2015, it depicts a global pandemic that makes the Covid-19 pandemic look minor league. This disease is caused by resistance to over-prescribed antibiotics, has no cure or treatment, begins by disfiguring those who get infected and then eventually kills everyone it touches. That much was clear - but what confused me was the plane. Not because all travel in and out of the UK and all flights were prohibited. I get that there are still planes and some people will be able to access them no matter what. But why this particular group. The captain, Tobias (Edmund Kingsley) said that he had a "select" group of passengers. But why? In what way? They really didn't seem all that "select" to me. So I was confused by - why these people, in this plane and at this time? And that was never really clarified.

But beyond that, it just wasn't an especially interesting or original movie. The description makes you think that there's going to be some sort of outbreak on the plane that makes the flight horrific, but really most of the action takes place once the plane lands to refuel and gets attacked by the infected - and even the attacks are dealt with fairly easily. I will say that I was intrigued by the character of Eric (Joe Dixon.) He was clearly being portrayed as the "bad guy" but there were other times when he was quite relatable, and even his motives at times seemed quite noble - basically - "you can't go anywhere because you'll infect anyone.) Aside from him, though, none of the characters were especially interesting. As far as the story goes, I didn't understand the need for the second plane and the flirtatious exchanges between Tobias and the other (female) pilot. The story didn't need that. And, sure, a few people die - you expect that - but while it portrayed (mostly through the dialogue of the characters) a world gone completely to hell, frankly, with bodies being burned in the open and a desperate and frightened population, it just seemed to be lacking much in the way of real intensity, and it ended up being a movie I could watch (thankfully it's fairly short) but not really get engrossed in. (4/10)

The idea had potential, but I think it just missed for me. The pandemic has taught us that people WOULD in fact be idiots, and try and jump on a plane despite the risk to others. So the very idea of this film is a solid one.

The problem is the characters were bland and one dimensional, and I don't feel the film had any real focus, or real ending. Like there were some very good ideas going on, but they needed developing more, and the film needed more focus on deciding what it wanted to be. It started off very reasonable, but then just went flat.

The other issue I had is the acting was a little all over the place. Some points seemed overacted, where as other actors felt flat/stiff. I wish the film had more going for it, because the concept is a good one.