Maggie

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.

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. ***

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.

First of all, this is not a horror movie. You might not even call it a zombie movie, even though people transform into zombies, urging the autorities to put people in quarantain which is the final stage before simply killing them. It's also not an action movie. IIt's an effective drama, that serves well as a metaphore for children groing up, transforming, and the inability of adults to transform with them. The biggest surprise is Arnold Schwarzenegger who makes you forget his action roots and is a loving father who choses his daughter above everything else. But It's mostly Breslin who sucks the audience into her slow and inevitable transformation, and the emotions that comes with it.

'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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