Maggie: A Transformação

2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: Zombies have been all the craze for quite sometime with shows like "The Walking Dead" and films like "World War Z" dominating the box office. I've never been such a fan of the genre as something about the undead just hunting on human flesh never seemed appealing. In Henry Hobson's "Maggie," where he recruits Arnold Schwarzenegger and Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin as a father- daughter pair that spend the final days together before the young Maggie transforms into a zombie is one of the more compelling works on the genre seen yet.

Charismatic and truly very moving at times, it's surprising to see where debut screenwriter John Scott 3 brings this compassionate tale. We're introduced to Maggie as her father Wade, just after finds her after a two-week search. She's brought to their farm home where her step-mother Caroline (played by Joely Richardson) and her two younger siblings reside. As Maggie's transformation is sure to become erratic and certain, the entire family sits on the edge as their beloved daughter deals with not only her changing self, but addressing the surroundings of her friends and a future that is now to never be.

In his most reserved and accessible performances of his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger proves what happens when you work with some of the most talented people in the business for decades. You're surely to pick up some of their ticks and beats. Internalized as any performance seen by an actor, Schwarzenegger digs deep to show the soul of a broken man, helpless against a virus that is taking away his most precious gift. In addition, he fights for his daughter's right to live out her final days from the local authorities who believe she must go to quarantine, where the infected are put to death. It's a shocking display of emotion from the former governor of California in what will surely be a talking piece of many following a viewing.

Oscar-nominee Abigail Breslin truly is a talent. "Zombieland," which many will think of based on themes, kept her at an arm's distance in terms of allowing the environment to reveal itself through her actions. In other zombie films and TV shows, the ongoing theme and narrative is survival. "Maggie" takes it in a different direction. You see the deterioration of not just the person's body, but their hopes and dreams. Breslin displays the broken heart of a girl who sees her former boyfriend get taken away despite pleading with his father to stay just one more day. You see the realization of her new self in the behaviors she acquires along the way. And most importantly, and probably the most heartbreaking, is in the final interactions with her friends and in the truth of a future that will never come. Breslin shines like no other. It's happy to see her stretching her acting capabilities at this point in her career.

The technical traits of "Maggie" are spot on for the most part thanks to director Hobson. In his feature directorial debut, Hobson hones in on the tone of an emotional drama, not a horror film with something extra to offer. I think back to something like M. Night Shymalan's "The Sixth Sense" when the thrill factor was secondary to its story and characters. Hobson captures most of those things. Cinematographer Lukas Ettlin paints the canvas beautifully as we've seen in other efforts like "The Lincoln Lawyer" and TV's "Black Sails."

"Maggie" is a moving drama. Echoing the moods of hard-hitting films but with the charisma of any entertaining blockbuster you would see this summer. It's well worth every dollar of an admission ticket and is one of the more enthralling and captivating films of the spring.

Maggie is the film that finally shows an emotional side to zombie films. This movie is not about killing all the infected people in sight. I think that Maggie has a least four excellent performances. The best is definitely Abigail Breslin. It is Arnold Schwarzenegger who is going to bring people to the theatre to see this movie but it really is Breslin's film, she is really the star. Schwarzenegger however is not his normal self. The man can act, and I'm sure that this film will never receive the credit it should because Schwarzenegger is in it and people are too quick to judge it by its cover. Maggie is slow but the performances managed to keep me interested. The film is also dark which perfectly captures its tone. I think that people need to go into this movie with an unbiased mind and it could really be enjoyed.

Veteran star Arnold Schwarzenegger shows some real depth and emotion in this decent horror drama that stresses something not always seen in a zombie feature film: the human element. Arnold plays Wade Vogel, a farmer struggling to cope with a fairly apocalyptic future. Many people are succumbing to what the makers of this film call "Necroambulist Virus"; in other words, zombification. Among them is Wades' teen aged daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin). He is determined to spend all the quality time with her that he can, while she can still appreciate it.

"The turn" into a zombie is a slow and drawn out process in this narrative, written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson. It's painful for the loved ones of the victims to have to watch as the humanity steadily drains away. The story can be seen as a metaphor for any number of diseases, or even just the aging process itself. Ultimately, it's a yarn about learning to let go, which people like Wade find very hard to do. Some of his neighbors will go so far as to run contrary to common sense or the afflicted persons' best interests.

Suffice it to say, this is for people who want to see Arnold take on a different kind of challenge. It is nice, after all this time, to see him take more chances and grow as an actor. This isn't for fans who want to see him do bad ass things, which are few and far between. You don't even see very many zombies, or much gore, for that matter.

Set in the Midwest, but shot in Louisiana, this makes decent use of its locations, has a fine music score by David Wingo, and an appropriately drab picture quality.

Arnold does a creditable job as the star. Breslin does elicit quite a bit of sympathy. Joely Richardson rounds out the trio of Hollywood names as Wades' second wife, who is able to accept things that Wade cannot.

Arnold was also one of the many producers on this thing.

Seven out of 10.

A beautiful film in regards to its humanity as shared through the film's characters.

A family is confronted by their teenage daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) who is contaminated with a dreadful disease which is Zombieism. She did not catch it inadvertently but caught it by having been bitten while out in an escapade on a night out when the town was invaded by zombies when she new it was forbidden to go. Teenage rebellion against the family like the two brats in the movie 28 weeks later that caused the destruction of London and Paris.

Now, this movie depicts what it would be like if a member of a family would be confronted with a contagious disease which is irreversible and that only the death of the infected one can preserve the safety of the others.

Indeed, the movie goes on a step by step development of the contagion of Maggi and the results on her environment such as family, friends and other members such as the police, doctor which will lead her at the end to commit suicide.

The only problem I have with the movie is this: Can life continue as usual with an extreme infected member of the family? Further more, with such an infection in this case Zombieism, at what moment does Maggie lose her humanity since all along the movie it is said that she should be quarantined ipso facto. A reference to the Anne Frank Diaries is a must to understand life as usual in extreme conditions.

In fact, all along the movie she shows no loss of her humanity. We can clearly see this in the scene where Wade Voegel (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sleeping on a sofa and Maggie approaches and smells him. Her transformation to a complete zombie has not yet peaked to the irreversible.

However, if the doctor and police insist she be put away, have they lost their humanity knowing there is nothing that can be done and to save the rest of the population Maggie must be killed? Who is truly human here?

We can also ask, how far will a family go in denial or semi-denial? Does denial mean keeping one eye open while sleeping?

At the end, she commits the inevitable by putting an end to her life.

I ask myself this question: Was she dead at the moment she was bitten and her loving family going into denial or did slowly die as to have a family act in a way to have her live live as long as possible with them showing the last of their humanity as they know it when she dies.

As Hamlet would state it: To kill her immediately or not to kill her immediately, that is the question.

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