Containment

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Containment" gets by purely on resourcefulness and sincerity. It's a niftily executed viral-outbreak thriller that, true to its title, makes good use of a confined space to ratchet up the drama of the situation, while working hard to bypass the more obvious narrative traps it creates for itself. Strong attention to detail and a disquieting score set this directorial debut feature apart, but some of the characters' motivations aren't entirely convincing.

There's nothing groundbreaking in this low-budget British thriller, but newbie director Neil Mcenery-West makes excellent use of his claustrophobic setting. Eventually, "Containment" succeeds in proving that you don't need a whopping great budget, nor an A-list cast to produce an accomplished piece of work.

Small budget British film about a group of people trying to figure out why they are locked up in their flat. The answer to this will be painfully obvious from the outset and the film will unravel just as you will expect. However that doesn't mean it is terrible by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it is a pretty solid 'survivor group' film with all the regular character types you would expect from such, so if you are a fan of these types of films then you will definitely find something to enjoy.

For anyone else there will most likely be a problem with pacing as it does seem to drag a tad, especially since it takes awhile for the film to reveal to the characters what we as the audience have figured out from near the beginning. There are also a lot of clichés that will seem tired and obvious, as well as possibly lazy.

Despite this there is nothing glaringly bad about the film, which to its credit works very well within its budget and keeps everything nice and simple so that it works and doesn't seem cheap or unfinished. Overall it is a good study for those looking to make a similar type of film as it is a textbook case of a group of people dropped into an unfamiliar situation where they seek to survive. As such it doesn't reach any dizzying heights or provoke much original thought, but it is solid and certainly is worth a watch if you are a fan of this sort of film.

The problem with the film is that it has been done before, and much better. I am a fan of contagion themes - real ones, not zombies or some other crap like that - but I found this boring as hell. People talk a lot, overreact, reach stupid conclusions and then just fail right before implementing a good idea.

The only thing they got right is how incompetent "the authorities" would be in a case like that, but even that has been done to death, especially in British productions.

Bottom line: you know this film has failed when I suddenly found myself hoping the infected would act like zombies.

"Containment" (2015) is the film that sounds cliché but isn't. It's a surprisingly fresh take on an old standby -- diverse people isolated by an outside threat are forced to cope and survive with each other, along with the threat. In this case, an entire apartment block in Britain is forcibly and mysteriously quarantined overnight; residents awake to sealed doors and hazardous materials units being deployed along the grounds.

But this is a smartly written independent sci-fi thriller that avoids a lot of common tropes. Then it introduces plot developments that are unexpected, yet make perfect sense. It's more original than you'd guess at first.

There's a lot of nice acting, including work by Lee Ross, and by Louise Brealey of "Sherlock" (2010) fame.

My only complaint was a thematically ambiguous ending that seemed lost on me. But I'd still give this an 8 out of 10.

It's low budget but does rather well with what it has. I've seen Hollywood blockbusters costing 100 times this movie that were 100 times worse.

There are plot holes and the characters are somewhat stereotypical, but on the whole I found it gripping enough to keep watching.

Worth a watch and gets a solid six.