Review: Maggie

Set in a near-future US where a virus called Necroambulism has slowly turned the infected into zombies. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a loving father who brings his infected daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) back home to their Midwest farm. He is warned that Maggie only has mere weeks left before she is completely turned, and he is given advice on what to do when the time comes. The local sheriff says that when the time comes, she will need to go into ‘quarantine’ like the rest, whilst a doctor/friend says he has three options; 1) Take her to quarantine immediately, 2) Give her exactly what the doctors give her in quarantine (said to be very painful) but allowing her to die at home, and 3) End it now and quickly (a bullet to the head). Schwarzenegger tries his best to prolong any kind of finality, seemingly unable to kill his own daughter, but even more strongly refusing to let the doctors do it. This is his daughter, changing or not. This will be his family’s loss, and he wants it to happen on his terms as best he can manage it. He tries to create a sense of normalcy for the time being, which his current wife (Joely Richardson) valiantly tries to support him in, to great strain on her nerves (She obviously cares for young Maggie, but is understandably frightened of her).

 

Although the combination of Arnold Schwarzenegger and zombies might sound like classic stuff, I can actually understand why this 2015 flick from director Henry Hobson (a credits designer of all things, in his directorial debut) bypassed cinemas in Australia. Arnold isn’t the star he used to be, for one thing. Action movies (which this film isn’t, mind you) have moved on without him. And then you watch the film and realise that it’s a rather arty, brooding, rather morose drama…with zombies. Starring Arnold freakin’ Schwarzenegger. However, it’s because I’ve seen the film that I can honestly say that I believe the reason why this film was released direct-to-DVD in Australia and flopped in the US is more to do with how difficult it is to market the film, rather than its quality. I actually liked the film. Yes, there’s way too many arty shots of Arnie standing contemplatively in a field, and yes I did question why what happened at the end didn’t happen earlier if it were a viable option. However, I really dug just how different this film was, not just for a zombie movie, but for an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The closest approximation I can come up with is John Hillcoat’s “The Road”.

 

Like “End of Days”, Arnie’s trying to genuinely act in this one, and like that film he acquits himself well. It’s definitely his best performance since returning to movies, and possibly his best performance to date. He’s actually quite pensive and sensitive in this, and if he looks noticeably older and seems tired, it’s appropriate for his character and the very grave situation he is in. Abigail Breslin is quite good too in a role that could easily have become silly. Joely Richardson, meanwhile, gives her best performance in years as a very nervous and conflicted character.

 

Scripted by the uber-pretentiously named John Scott 3 (Yep, you read that correctly), it’s a sad film, a harrowing and dour film that will certainly divide people. It could’ve gone so horribly wrong and been subject to jeers and laughter because it dares to take its fantastical subject very seriously, but not in a mopey, wet-mouthed tweeny-bop sparkly emo vampire way. It’s actually quite a brave film, if you ask me, with a really interesting solemnity to it. The tone is visualised by the film’s overall bleak look captured by cinematographer Lukas Ettlin (atoning for his sins with the awful and incompetently shot “Battle: Los Angeles”). It’s not quite as atmospheric as “The Road”, but there’s some really amazing shots of grey Midwestern scenery. I just wish that there were a few less of those arty shots. We get the point pretty damn quickly, thanks.

 

Arnold produced the film, so I hope he didn’t lose money on it, because I think it’s a pretty worthy film. It definitely deserves to be more widely seen, and I was shocked- shocked!, that Lionsgate were the ones who released it. They have such a good track record in releasing horror-themed films, don’t they? Most of you have probably never even heard of it. But that’s the way it is today, films get lost or hushed away in the corner (or Direct to-DVD/VOD) when it’s not so easy to properly categorise them. Although more horrific in some ways than many horror films you’ll see, this is more drama than horror or action movie.

 

I hope Mr. Hobson doesn’t become another Kerry Conran (the underrated “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”) or John Patrick Kelley (“The Locusts”, also underrated) and actually gets to continue directing films after this rather unpopular but underrated film. It won’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed its uniqueness and ambition. Give it a go if you can find it, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

 

Rating: B-