Bird BoxIs an Intense, Post-Apocalyptic Tale of Motherhood and Survival

The new Netflix original movie Bird Boxis fundamentally A Quiet Placewith seeing rather of hearing . That make it absolutely harrowing but also a picayune too familiar .

Based on the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman , Bird Boxstars Sandra Bullockas Malorie , a woman who favor to paint alone rather than hang out with Quaker or interact with family . She ’s so aloof and in her own bubble that she does n’t even pick up that , halfway across the world , some form of dire event is occurring where mass are seemingly wipe out themselves out of nowhere .

That event , of course , eventually do it to Malorie in the United States . What has been happen is that hoi polloi see something horrifying , this issue utterly changes them , and then they forthwith kill themselves . Ashumanity races to feel shelterfrom this menace as chop-chop as possible , Malorie finish up in a random house with a divers group of people ( include characters play by John Malkovich , Trevante Rhodes , Jacki Weaver , and Rosa Salazar ) who must bond so as to continue alive .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

However , as directed by Susanne Bier ( The Night Manager ) and adapted by Eric Heisserer ( Arrival ) , Bird Box does n’t protrude at the beginning of the terror . The motion picture give five years after the apocalyptical events occur , as Malorie and two kids lay out off down a river to chance what they think is redemption . However , patently , they ca n’t look at anything . And so a charwoman and two small children get in a gravy boat , blindfolded , urgently trying to float to hope in this terrifying , horrible Earth .

Bird Box consistently cuts between Malorie now , on the river , and Malorie then , at the outset of this apocalyptic event . And each part of the picture has its own distinct savour . The present is a nail - biting shiver drive , as you ca n’t conceive what these persona are going through , up and down the river , encountering an increasingly difficult Seth of circumstances . The past is a sad mystery , as you see the terror increasingly exponentially , watch the world change and adjust , then realize none of the people in these scenes are still with Malorie in the future , which does n’t omen well for anyone . Plus , what the netherworld is this killer force anyway ?

No matter what time period Bird Box is in , Bier keeps the viewer on the edge of their rear end . Every frame of Bird Box has a singular foreboding scourge about it . It ’s not scarey per se , but it ’s grueling in the honest possible direction . Moments in the plastic film make you curl up in agony . Others make you encompass your centre in anticipation . And the film is incessantly twisting its screws deeply into you until you take in what it ’s truly all about . It ’s about how one cleaning woman is pull to use the most dreaded event conceivable to find out who she is and what can become potential , and give the consultation a brand new viewpoint on the thought of maternity .

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The idea that the enemy in Bird Box ca n’t be seen , or you die , is both thrilling and problematic . On the one hand , it sets up such a clearly defined set of rules — since something as benignant as raising a window ghost can become a heart - pound event — and throughout , Bier and her team play with this attractively . One scene , in peculiar , induce a simple , three - block stumble to the supermarket into a torturous quest . Even the most innocuous thing , in this world , can become uncomfortably sinister and it ’s enchanting to see how the characters conform to their inability to see .

However , since the wickedness can not be seen , the audience is for the most part forced to imagine it for themselves . And , well , that simply is n’t very satisfying . The evil supposedly shows each someone their greatest fear but , in picture us almost nothing , it ’s laborious to fully imagine what could maybe be so bad . Bier uses dialogue and phone to do the best job conceivable of “ revealing ” the evil without in reality showing it , but it never quite come together . Though , to be bonnie , there belike is n’t a scenario that could live up to the level of destruction this power has on this world . It ’s kind of a lose - lose place .

As you may have a bun in the oven , Bullock is dynamic and excellent as Malorie . The role offers her a Brobdingnagian range of emotions and scenario to play with and the Oscar - make headway actress nails it , towing a air somewhere between sympathetic , sour , upsetting , and loveable . Malorie is all these things at all fourth dimension depending on the situation , creating a character that palpate uniquely unquestionable to this world .

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Her support cast , while yield a mint less to do , is up to the labor as well . Malkovich is his usual excellent self , playing a man whose intentions are always in doubtfulness . Rhodes ends up as the second lead and has a magnetised , unassailable presence which blend well with Bullock ’s on - edge personality . And though they do n’t have much to do , it ’s just reassuring to have actors like Sarah Paulson , Jacki Weaver , andRosa Salazarin smaller character . It gives the whole movie another level of quality .

And yet despite all of the good thing in Bird Box , and trust us it ’s mostly good , the celluloid feel undercut by one thing : Its release date . Though it andJohn Krasinski ’s A Quiet Placeare carve up by nine months , and that film is far more straightforward and commercial-grade , the idea of a revulsion motion picture center on one of our senses , unfortunately , feel a piffling too familiar . At every moment in Bird Box , I restrain thinking of A Quiet Place , and the fact it ’s still so smart in my retentiveness . And I kept think how Bird Box , which was spell years before A Quiet Place , could have been more disgraceful and fresh if only it came out sooner .

Still , Bird Box is not A Quiet Place . It ’s a more introspective , nuanced take on a similar idea , resulting in an evocative , vivid film , with memorable scenes and excellent functioning . It ’s a fantastic balance of play and genre from a team that does both well . It ’s very much deserving your time .

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