Infectés

I just left the screening of "Carriers". It was the opening Movie on this years Fantasy Film Fest. At least here in Munich. Well, my first reaction to this film was something like "Wow... this where long 90 Minutes". Most of the other crowd thought the same and their comments where quite similar to mine. Meaning: Good, but a bit slow.

This Movie needs a little tightening to speed it up a little bit. It does a lot of things right! The characters are worked out properly, the camera-work is top notch and the acting is very good. But sometimes there are scenes, that last too long. You know where the Directors want to go, you know how the scene will play out in the end, but it still goes on and on and on... So again: a little trimming would do the film good!

Well, and then there is this whole "Wrong Marketing"-Thing. At least here in Germany they try to sell this movie as a Horror-Movie. That's just wrong. Sure, there are the classic Horror-Elements, but overall "Carriers" is a strong, heavy Drama. There is virtually NO Action and even less gore in it. Instead there are long dialogs, dramatic events and more dialogs. That's fine with me, but it makes the movie hard to find it's audience. The GoreHounds will be disappointed by the lack of blood and guts and the Drama-Fans will be pushed away by the apocalyptic Elements...

So. Once again: "Carriers" has great potential but is a little bit to slow and to heavy on the drama to pass as a great movie.

While the premise of this movie is very relevant to the current state of the world, (Covid-19)the actions by the major players is at best lame and often reaches the point of stupid. An extremely deadly virus has been unleashed on the world and it is almost universally fatal. Two young men and two young women are in a car traveling to a seaside resort where the two boys spent a considerable amount of time in their youth. It takes a bit of time before these facts are clear to the viewer. The four of them have masks and a lot of bleach and are very cautious about contact with anything that could possible be contagious. At first, they seem very knowledgeable about their situation and what they need to do to survive. The two men are brothers, but the exact situation regarding the two women is unclear. It does not take long before the intelligence declines and the stupidity rises. When their car is irretrievably broken, the older brother (the leader) takes out his pistol and does some target practice on a political campaign sign. No one with any real sense of their situation would have wasted precious ammunition like that. Some of their actions appear incredibly foolish once it becomes clear just how deadly the virus is. They arrive at a Center for Disease Control base only to find little more than death and a sense of futility. Almost no one is left alive. Yet, they engage in absurd behaviors where they could suffer broken bones or be in an auto accident. As disaster movies based on a virulence go, this one had a lot of potential, but it is hard to take a movie based on such actions in response seriously.

Second this is NOT a zombie film. So don't be fooled by the idiotic marketing of this fine little gem. What this is, is a deliberately paced drama about a group of survivors in a world plagued with a virus that's pretty much killed everyone and the hard decisions they have to make on their way. It could be a companion piece to The Road almost, a sort of prequel set a few years before.

While it is "slow" it only clocks in about 84 minutes which is far too short in my opinion and I wanted more really. Something tells me that the film was originally much longer but cut down by the producers to please the teens who all seem to hate it anyway.

Good film, crap marketing.

In a world devastated by an outbreak, Brian (Chris Pine), his girlfriend Bobby (Piper Perabo), his brother Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) and their friend Kate (Emily VanCamp) are heading to a beach where the brothers spent vacations in their childhood, and they expect to be a sanctuary. When their car breaks on the road in the desert, they negotiate with a man called Frank (Christopher Meloni) that run out of gas while driving his infected daughter Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) to the hospital and they travel together. Along the journey, Bobby tries to help Jodie but is contaminated by her blood; however, she does not disclose the truth to Brian and her friends. Further, they lose their humanity in their fight for survive.

"Carriers" is another "deadly virus genre" movie that uses the same premise of dozens of films and maybe the greatest difference is that there are no zombies in the plot. The beginning of the dramatic and hopeless story is not well-developed and does not explain the origins of the outbreak. The plot is indeed about the lost of humanity by the survivors, and in this regard the film is bitter and gives absolutely no hope to the human race. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Virus" ("Virus")

Note: On 11 Dec 2020, I saw this film again. In times of COVID-19 pandemic, this film is scarier and darker. The origin of the pandemic is apparently in China based on the scene of the man died on the road through the desert. My note is seven.

It's hard for me to precisely categorize this movie. Drama? Sure. Thriller? For sure. Horror? Mmm, I don't think so. It's funny, because it's hard not to label the movie horror, seeing as how it deals with a grotesque infection, that spreads worldwide terror and brings civilization to its knees. However, the infected aren't the antagonists here. Once you've been infected, you're basically already dead.

Ultimately I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. After reading other comments here, it seems the general consensus is that the pace is too sluggish. I'd have to agree that it was a long 90 minutes, but as someone who is prone to falling asleep during movies, especially after an 8 hour shift, my interest was effortlessly sustained throughout the movie.

The production values here are top notch. I was never bothered by bad acting (or at least too bad). The cast fit my tastes, maybe only falling short with Piper Perabo, but that would only be nit-picking. The photography wasn't jaw-dropping, or even slightly innovative, but it was still more than adequate.

What actually impressed me most was the writing. There are some real gems in there, but mentioning them would be spoiling some great scenes. I seemed to sense some anti-religious or religious undertones, however I honestly can't decide which. I suppose that's what I liked so much about it, the morality was left quite vague.

Anyway, a solid effort. It's possibly lacking some more gore, and action, but that also could have just made it tasteless. I would recommend this to anyone who's a fan of biological horror, but I'd say ultimately you should see it for the story, and not the action.