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Bird Box Reviews

Bird Box toes the line. It holds your attention. It lets your imagination run wild, and sparks a ticker of running questions while you're engrossed with what's happening on screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 10, 2023

There's a lot to like about Bier's direction, though some of screenwriter Heisserer's adaptation choices don't always work. Thankfully Bullock and the mass death sequence are great, even if the film essentially has to do a soft reboot afterwards.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2023

“Bird Box” runs the gambit from riveting to predictable to kinda silly. At the same time it’s never boring and the performances are always worth watching.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

...it's perennial Every-gal Bullock who ultimately is the VIP...

Full Review | Oct 26, 2021

To survive, they live in a world without sight of the outside world. That premise inevitably invites comparison to A Quiet Place. In Bird Box, the concept does not work nearly as well.

I love Susanne Bier's movies for their conscious humanity, and that's the quality that separates this from many similar movies about the end of the world and the collapse of civilization.

...the denouement of Bird Box has a particularly intriguing twist.

The taut pacing and overall tension keep you invested.

Susanne Bier is a filmmaker with an innate ability to mine the painful truths of the human experience.

Silly un-scary mash-up of ten things better things before it

Full Review | Jul 2, 2021

More than anything, this is a display of what movie stars can do. Bullock's time bomb performance, always tamping down the scream she clearly wants to let out, is riveting. The film she gifts it to is not much to see.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 29, 2021

I'm not gonna lie this film actually left me in tears, it was beautiful, it was strong, and it was direct and that ending. Wow.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 18, 2020

The acting really sells the premise, chiefly from Bullock, imparting a striking sincerity that prevents the sci-fi/horror elements from being frivolous.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 5, 2020

With an extremely interesting premise, Bird Box becomes a meaningless film filled with disappointing moments. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 30, 2020

...Bird Box does give visual and dramatic life to a fairly widespread conviction at present in certain upper middle class circles, in Hollywood and elsewhere...

Full Review | Aug 5, 2020

While it's no 4-star instant classic like "A Quiet Place," which did it first and did it better, far be it from me to nitpick a viral hit.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 24, 2020

Bird Box is as horrific as it is captivating...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 17, 2020

Should have been called "Bird-brained."

Full Review | Sep 12, 2019

I saw Bird Box in previews before the hype and thought it was an entertaining, small-scale Sandra Bullock film with a nifty concept and few pretensions.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2019

[Susanne] Bier does a great job of adding tension to set pieces, however, some of the choices she makes take away from that tension.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 2, 2019

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‘Bird Box’ Review: The End of the World Is Riveting. Sometimes.

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By Aisha Harris

Dec. 13, 2018

The enigmatic title may be “Bird Box,” but in the first flashback of this occasionally riveting sci-fi thriller, the banter between the sisters Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and Jessica (Sarah Paulson) keeps returning to horses. Jessica, a breeder, chats enthusiastically about her stud as she drops by to visit Malorie, a pregnant recluse who spends her days painting in her studio. During Malorie’s checkup at the hospital, Jessica even imagines how great it would be if she herself existed in equine form.

There’s probably a would-be metaphor waiting to reveal itself in these scenes — maybe it is the screenwriter Eric Heisserer’s way of clearly contrasting Jessica as the free-spirited sibling and Malorie as the cynical one who harbors zero desire to become a mother. (Malorie grumpily describes her own pregnancy as having a “condition.”) But like much of the characterization found in this movie from the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier ( “After the Wedding” ), the horse-related theme is severely undercooked.

“Bird Box,” an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s novel, jumps between two timelines under the premise “What if M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Happening,’ in which people mysteriously begin killing themselves, had blindfolds?” The opening scene is the present, with Malorie brusquely instructing two children, Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair), about the treacherous journey on which they are about to embark down a river in a canoe. Once outside, they must never take off their blindfolds, or They. Will. Die.

Bullock, accustomed to playing no-nonsense characters on life-threatening missions, effectively conveys the sense of urgency.

The second timeline unfolds five years earlier, with the sudden arrival of a mysterious entity taking the form of the worst fears of any person who locks eyes with it, leading the victim to commit suicide. Leaving the hospital, Malorie finds mass hysteria — car crashes, fires and explosions in the streets — and seeks refuge with other strangers in a house on the corner.

The house is a hodgepodge of types: John Malkovich is Douglas, the crotchety neighbor whose only priority is himself; Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”) is Charlie, a supermarket employee who just so happens to be writing a novel about the end of humanity; and Tom, Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”) is the strapping, sensitive war vet who connects with Malorie. Danielle Macdonald plays Olympia, a woman who, like Malorie, is pregnant, but extremely happy about it. Jacki Weaver and BD Wong are here, too, though they have even less to do, with barely any back story or distinguishing traits.

As the survivors hole up in the house, the usual end-of-the-world conflicts arise: Do they let in others suddenly banging on the door for help? Can anyone be trusted?

Is surviving actually living ? (Non-spoiler: Nope.)

Some saving graces: the disturbing set piece in which the creature first descends upon the city and, later, a genuinely unnerving scene in which Malorie leaves Boy and Girl behind in the canoe so she can replenish supplies.

Yet too often “Bird Box” walks right up to the edge of pure suspense and disappoints — the need for characters to be blindfolded or otherwise limited in sight presents the perfect opportunity to put audiences in their shoes and really dig into the threat of the unknown, à la “The Blair Witch Project.” Instead, those moments are chopped up anxiously, the camera frequently cutting wide to reveal what the characters are up against.

By the final act, there are birds instead of horses, and Malorie’s purpose as an individual is explicitly realized in the most obvious of ways. The squelching of promise is not my worst (cinematic) fear, per se. But it’s still disappointing.

An earlier version of this review misstated a character’s role in the movie. The character Douglas is a neighbor, not the owner of the home in which some of the characters hide.

How we handle corrections

Bird Box Rated R for extremely graphic depictions of suicide. Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes.

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Sandra Bullock is the best part of Bird Box, Netflix’s new post-apocalyptic thriller

Bullock leads an all-star cast in a meandering movie with an intriguing premise.

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Share All sharing options for: Sandra Bullock is the best part of Bird Box, Netflix’s new post-apocalyptic thriller

Sandra Bullock stars in Bird Box, out on Netflix December 21.

Every week, new original films debut on Netflix and other streaming services, often to much less fanfare than their big-screen counterparts. Cinemastream is Vox’s series highlighting the most notable of these premieres, in an ongoing effort to keep interesting and easily accessible new films on your radar.

The premise: In a post-apocalyptic world, haunted by beings that cause psychotic behavior in nearly anyone who looks at them, Mallory (Sandra Bullock) tries to protect two small children while traveling to what she hopes is a safe colony.

What it’s about: Directed by Susanne Bier ( After the Wedding , In a Better World), Bird Box takes its name from a box of birds that Mallory carries with her on her journey, which she and the children — who are named Boy and Girl, for reasons that become clear later on — must undertake blindfolded to save their very lives.

The movie cuts back and forth between that journey and the period five years prior, when bizarre apocalyptic horror was unleashed across the globe with the arrival of the beings. Who they are and what they want is never fully explained; Bird Box is more interested in its characters’ reactions to the horrors of their world than it is in explaining exactly what brought them about.

The film boasts a star-studded cast, including Bullock, John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson, Tom Hollander, and more. Most of them play characters who become trapped in a house together while trying to outrun the carnage taking place outside.

Bird Box is post-apocalyptic horror, with moments of intense violence and elements reminiscent of movies like Night of the Living Dead , A Quiet Place , and Children of Men . Unfortunately, the cross-cutting narrative device doesn’t add much to the movie, and as it wears on, it starts to feel like it isn’t totally sure what it’s trying to do. Still, it’s entertaining enough to be worth watching for fans of the genre or of Bullock, who turns in a strong performance as a woman who has motherhood thrust onto her in a world loaded with peril.

Critical consensus: Bird Box currently has a score of 51 on Metacritic. At Indiewire, Michael Nordine writes that “Bier’s direction is coolly efficient, which fits the material to a t — anything more ostentatious would just feel wasteful.”

Where to watch: Bird Box is streaming on Netflix.

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Bird Box review – Sandra Bullock's Netflix thriller is a bird-brained mess

Despite some tense moments, this apocalyptic shocker is a disappointingly clunky waste of a star-studded cast

A t the start of Susanne Bier’s apocalyptic thriller Bird Box, Sandra Bullock’s face fills the screen, daring the camera to break eye contact. Her Mallory is stern and commanding – Bullock’s in drill sergeant mode, not America’s sweetheart – and she doesn’t care about sounding kind. Outside, there are creatures who will kill you with a gaze. The audience never sees them ourselves, but we catch glimpses of their presence: the leaves rustle, the birds squawk and the unlucky victim’s pupils glaze over, turning red and watery as the viewers instantly kill themselves with the closest weapon: a window, a car, a desk – whatever’s handy, bloody and smash-y.

“If you look, you will die,” Mallory orders. Two small children stare back in silent fear. She’s spent five years surviving this plague-beast-Armageddon-whatsit, most of them trapped in this house. She’s outlasted the rest of her random roommates, a grab-bag of people who, like her, blundered into the first open door the morning most of the planet got massacred, a baby carriage rolling down the street as though Bird Box wants Battleship Potemkin to make room. Now, she has to shepherd these kids out of their home, into a rowboat, and down a dangerous river – blindfolded. For days. Sighs Mallory: “It’s going to feel like it’s going on for a long time.”

Boy, does it. Bier and her Netflix producers have made an algorithmic chiller that includes every trend from the sensory deprivation horror of Don’t Breathe and A Quiet Place to JJ Abrams’ mysterious monsters to thunderingly thematic sci-fi like Arrival, which screenwriter Eric Heisserer also penned. Bird Box’s pieces feel forcibly screwed together, a movie marionetted by strings of data code. There’s good scenes and smart ideas, but overall, the movie mostly clomps. Tense sequences, like an early attempt to head out for food, are capped by clunky punchlines while the climax is almost guaranteed to get giggles, as though the puppeteers in charge accidentally screwed on that scene in The Wicker Man where Nicolas Cage screams about the bees.

The ensemble, too, feels as curated as a box of donuts. There’s the classic crowd-pleasers such as Bullock and John Malkovich as an alcoholic crank who blames Mallory for the death of his third wife. (His second, he admits, said hell “couldn’t be worse than being married to me”.) There’s the cult favorites such as Sarah Paulson and Jacki Weaver. And then there’s the exciting flavors, all upcoming actors seized while hot: Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes, Patti Cake$’s Danielle MacDonald, The Maze Runner’s Rosa Salazar, Get Out’s Lil Rel Howery as a grocery store worker who never strips off his polyester vest, and Machine Gun Kelly, poised to slither on to every hitlist after playing Tommy Lee in the Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt.

These characters feel so crammed together and underwritten that they add up to almost nothing. When we meet them all, the camera bobs around like it’s just trying to count off that everyone’s in the room. Within minutes, the strangers solve the basic concept of what’s killing the globe, voices overlapping like this horror film could, with one butler tuxedo, suddenly spin into a British farce with people barging in and out of the kitchen in high-pitched crisis announcing things such as: “We need toilet paper!” and “Don’t answer the door!” No one gets a backstory. They simply arrive with one personality trait – Paulson’s character really likes horses, McDonald is a wannabe Disney princess – or in Kelly’s case, ominous camerawork that shoots him like a slasher villain for no reason at all. At the end of the film, you don’t feel moved to hoot for any of the individual performances – but you’re tempted to applaud the casting director.

Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson in Bird Box

Kicking off with Mallory’s brutal river babysitter mission is bold and bone-headed. That opening lecture lets Bier establish Bird Box’s rules, not that the two tykes listening are any more obedient than puppies. But when the film then jumps back five years to the first day of the attack, where most of the film takes place, there’s zero suspense in watching the rest of the cast get picked off. The what, why and how of the crisis never gets answered. Bird Box only grapples with the question of when – when will each person be stricken with the vicious Visine? – but even the film’s sense of time feels scrambled. The major scenes in the house could take place over days or weeks, it’s impossible to tell.

And the script is only moderately interested in logistics. There’s a quick lesson in echolocation, a dozen shots in blindfold-o-vision, sidewalks strung like Theseus outsmarting the Minotaur, and an entire sequence that’s a sales pitch for cars with proximity sensors. However, the back of the audience’s brain is stuck trying to figure out things like: are the monsters hunting their prey, or is it just impersonal? How do the roommates get rid of the corpses? And how offended will the American Psychiatric Association be that Bird Box’s secondary fiends are mental patients who, according to the film, can’t be driven crazy by the creatures because they’re already insane?

Bier is a lauded film-maker in her native Denmark, and recently directed the stellar first season of The Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. How odd that in Hollywood, she’s made a career of helming can’t-miss films that somehow fizzle, be they the Oscar-striving pedigreed nonsense of Halle Berry’s Things We Lost in the Fire, or her more recent romance Serena, which paired Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper right after Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle and still flopped. Whatever’s going wrong with her American choices must feel as hazy and treacherous as whatever’s making Bird Box’s leaves rustle. Perhaps she, too, feels like Mallory, her competence going ignored by capricious children. As for the audience, as the film staggers on in its quest to give us entertainment satisfaction or death, we’re tempted to identity with the movie’s first victim, a woman in a tracksuit banging her head against the glass, ready to get this painful sight over with.

Bird Box was screening at the AFI festival and will be available on Netflix on 21 December

First look review
Sandra Bullock
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Science fiction and fantasy films
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Common sense media reviewers.

Violent sci-fi thriller has chaos, gory deaths, swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Demonstrates the power of parental commitment and

Heroine is loyal, courageous, compassionate, and p

Suspense and fear play throughout. Although monstr

A naked couple is briefly seen having sex. The mai

Profanity includes multiple instances and forms of

Some alcohol is consumed; one principal character

Positive Messages

Demonstrates the power of parental commitment and bravery. In the face of monstrous evil, humanity has the potential to survive.

Positive Role Models

Heroine is loyal, courageous, compassionate, and perseveres; back story shows her evolution as a formidable, loving parent. Ethnic diversity throughout.

Violence & Scariness

Suspense and fear play throughout. Although monstrous creatures or beings are unseen, their presence (seen and heard only as raging wind) incites mayhem, pandemic suicide and deaths, gore, and destruction. Many deaths take place in close-up shots: (i.e., scissors to neck; car explosion, point-blank shooting). Bodies, some bloody, are strewn in multiple settings, from a variety of violent causes. Children are in danger from unseen monsters on a river with turbulent rapids, human predators.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A naked couple is briefly seen having sex. The main character and her lover kiss, embrace, and begin to make love.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Profanity includes multiple instances and forms of: "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "goddamn," "hell," and more.

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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Some alcohol is consumed; one principal character drinks heavily, gets drunk.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Bird Box is a violent, suspense-filled, often-gory end-of-the-world movie about a woman ( Sandra Bullock ) and two children who are trying to survive a presence that causes anyone who looks directly at it to commit suicide in gruesome ways. While the "presence" is never seen, its existence results in many gory, blood-soaked sequences. There are shootings, stabbings, hideous accidents, zombie-like humans in attack mode, fiery explosions, and more. Plus, the main characters are in dire peril as they undertake a long, harrowing ride down a river -- while blindfolded. You can also expect frequent swearing, including "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," and more. A nude couple is briefly glimpsed having sex, and a loving couple kisses and embraces. Characters drink, one very much to excess. Based on a novel by Josh Malerman, this thriller/horror film isn't for kids. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 53 parent reviews

One Very Short Sex Scene around 35:00 mark

Triggering and violent, but very well done, what's the story.

Painter Malorie ( Sandra Bullock ), mid-pregnancy and unsure about becoming a mother, is thrust into a global nightmare in BIRD BOX. A deadly force threatens the planet. Unseen but lethal -- anyone who looks in its direction is impelled to commit suicide by any means -- the evil presence is destroying the population. Chaos prevails. Blindfolds, as protection, take center stage. Finding interim refuge in a house inhabited by other desperate people, Malorie gives birth. Her housemates include: Douglas ( John Malkovich , an alcoholic prophet of doom; Cheryl ( Jackie Weaver ), a resilient senior; an unsophisticated Olympia ( Danielle Macdonald ); and Tom (Trevante Rhodes), who may be the one person Malorie can count on. Director Susanne Bier intercuts the cataclysmic events to which one after another of the principals fall victim, with scenes five years in the future when Malorie and two children, Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair) race down a river in a final, valiant attempt to survive.

Is It Any Good?

Sandra Bullock, sympathetic and a force of nature here, in combination with other solid performances, terrific direction, and abundant blindfolds, makes a conventional tale suspenseful and effective. Though the filmmakers have attempted to provide some degree of optimism by the end of Bird Box , the five years during which nothing has been able to stem the onslaught of the terror isn't very reassuring. Suspension of disbelief is a necessity, as is not looking too closely at some of the plot elements; however, the unceasing tension and rooting interest for the heroic folks makes it a thrilling ride -- only for mature teens and grown-ups.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Bird Box. The actual monster/creature/presence is never seen in this movie. How did the filmmakers let you know it was near? Why was it as scary, or even scarier, than seeing a visual image? What is the impact of media violence on kids ?

How does Bird Box illustrate such character strengths as courage , perseverance , teamwork ?

What's the difference between an "end-of-the-world" movie and a "dystopian" movie? Why do you think both genres appeal to audiences, especially teens? What are your favorites?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 13, 2018
On DVD or streaming : December 21, 2018
Cast : Sandra Bullock , Trevante Rhodes , John Malkovich
Director : Susanne Bier
Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Black actors
Studio : Netflix
Genre : Thriller
Topics : Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
Character Strengths : Courage
Run time : 124 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : violence, bloody images, language, and brief sexuality
Last updated : February 18, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Sandra Bullock fights unseen evil in slow-burn dystopian thriller Bird Box : EW review

In this spring’s sleeper horror hit A Quiet Place , the mere act of making a sound was lethal bait for the bogeyman; if it hears you, it will come. The new Sandra Bullock Netflix thriller Bird Box hinges on turning another basic human sense into a waking nightmare: sight.

Things have been going to hell for a while already, although Bullock’s self-sufficient Malorie has hardly noticed. She’s too busy painting in her California studio and feeling conflicted about her “condition” (there’s a baby growing inside her, whether she’s ready or not). It’s her sister (Sarah Paulson) who drags her out into the world, where an epidemic of unexplained suicides seems to be hypnotizing the population.

It takes several hard lessons to learn that vision is the trigger; see no evil, and you might not take a pair of scissors to your own neck or walk into a burning car. Soon a heavily pregnant Malorie is holed up in a house full of survivors cast like a delightfully weird salad of celebrity Mad Libs: John Malkovich, Machine Gun Kelly, Jacki Weaver, Moonlight ’s Trevante Rhodes.

As Bird time-jumps between the claustrophobic action of the house and a desperate sort of jailbreak, director Susanne Bier ( The Night Manager ) keeps the mood taut and defiantly in the moment. There is no bigger how or why, just bare survival and a steely Bullock — suddenly, fiercely ready to fight for a half-lived life. B

As noted centuries ago by Cicero and subsequently Shakespeare, both fortune and love are blind, and with BIRD BOX it is that blindness which delivers the greatest love and fortune. Riveting from beginning to end, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (“Arrival”) and Academy Award-winning director Susanne Bier (“In A Better World”) deliver a tension-building thriller that bodes not only one of the most exquisite cinematic payoffs, but one of the most powerful emotional journeys of a single character to come along in many a day.

Adapted from the acclaimed 2014 novel by Josh Malerman, BIRD BOX takes flight with the very human storytelling of director Susanne Bier while elevating and immersing the experience through sound and sight, and the absence thereof, creating a dystopian world filled with a Hitchcockian uncertainty of what’s happening and an unfolding of events through interwoven storylines of past and present which is fascinating and frightening.

We first meet Malorie as she is barking instructions to two children, named “Boy” and “Girl”. Do not take off your blindfolds. Listen to everything I say. Do not make a sound. No matter what happens, do not take off your blindfolds. The situation is frightening and tense. The roar of a river fills the sonic space. Not only can you hear the conviction in Malorie’s voice and see it in the manner she grabs each child, intently staring into their eyes, but you feel it. The fear is palpable.

Cut five years earlier and meet a pregnant Malorie. An artist, she never leaves her home, not even for groceries. She has no contact withe outside world or people, let alone any emotional connections, yet her home is open to the world and nature with walls of windows. So removed from human connection, she won’t even acknowledge her pregnancy or say the word “pregnant.” She has not bonded with her unborn child, nor wants to. Her sister is her only link to the world. Malorie’s go-to persona are wisecracks and sarcasm. On this day, her sister arrives to take Malorie to a third-trimester ultrasound exam. The ultrasound goes fine, but on leaving the hospital, chaos ensues and panic sets in with everyone around Malorie.

An unknown malevolent entity is infecting the world. Although “invisible” to the naked eye, when an individual looks directly at this unseen being, it causes one to see their greatest fears and commit suicide in the most violent and gruesome of fashion. Malorie’s sister succumbs to the entity while driving, thrusting Malorie not only out into the world, but into a world of chaos, death and destruction. Seeking refuge in a large corner home in a residential neighborhood, Malorie lands in an unfamiliar situation, forced to interact with others who have also taken refuge in the home.

As days turns into weeks and months and eventually years, we jockey between the tension-riddled past and present until the two paths finally converge in present day and the last legs of the journey with Malorie, Boy and Girl, paddling down a river in search of safety from the entity and death.

Heisserer has artfully crafted a script that speaks volumes about each character, the world in which they inhabit, and the challenges each faces individually and collectively, even when we are met with nothing more than silence. The tapestry created by the two timelines as they move towards intersection builds tension and fear, playing on the Hitchcockian ideals of the unseen or unknown being more frightening than the known. Aiding in this philosophy is Bier’s direction and the visual design as, for much of the film, our principals are blindfolded and must experience the world sight unseen, using their other senses to navigate and survive. Adding another textural and sensory level is in many instances, the camera lens is also blindfolded, forcing the viewer to walk in Malorie’s shoes and only able to see the shadows she sees through her dark-colored heavy gauzed blindfold. It’s a powerful visual tool employed by Bier and cinematographer, Salvatore Totino, as viewers are forced to “observe” through sound.

BIRD BOX excels in its character development of those trapped inside the house of first sanctuary, setting the stage for the emotional journey of our protagonist Malorie. The dynamic between John Malkovich as Douglas and Sandra Bullock as Malorie is rapier and we slowly see the presence of Malorie affect Douglas in a positive way. It’s a lovely dance between them. Moments of lightness are few and far between, but one that stands out and is key to relieving uncomfortable tension early in the film is between Douglas and Malorie and involves a shotgun.

The real joy of BIRD BOX, however, comes in watching Bullock and Trevante Rhodes as Tom. Off the charts heat. They go toe-to-toe with emotion and connectivity that pulls at the heart. It’s impossible not to root for the two of them to survive and end up together with a happy life, particularly as we see Malorie’s growth and she connects on an emotional level. The stage is set in watching Tom and Malorie so as to plant the seeds of possible explanations for what we are seeing between Malorie, Boy and Girl on the river.

Speaking of Boy and Girl, kudos to Heisserer’s script and Bier’s direction at keeping the pressure cooking going as to who exactly Boy and Girl are. Are both Malorie”s? Did she give birth to twins? Is one child the product of a relationship between Malorie and Tom? Tacit hypotheses just add to the building tension.

Other initial housemates include Rosa Salazar’s Lucy who initially presents as a strong character who falters and breaks once she gets involved with loose cannon Felix played by Machine Gun Kelly. As comes as no surprise, despite rather limited screen time and dialogue, Jacki Weaver delivers a solid performance as Sheryl. We see growth and the emotional stability of common sense start to take hold. Always a joy to see is BD Wong as homeowner Greg. And Tom Hollander as a late comer to survival named Gary is just killer – literally and figuratively. The nervous ambiguity Hollander’s imbues within Gary is beyond intriguing as he regales tales of psychiatric patients he witnessed forcing people’s eyes open to witness the “entity” yet he wasn’t affected by it.

But this film boils down to the connective tissue of Sandra Bullock and Trevante Rhodes. Rhodes draws you in with strength and sensitivity while Bullock, in one of the finest performances of her career to date, takes us on a complete emotional ride as she goes from solitude and indifference to the world to a mother lion fighting for the survival of the children. She is a total powerhouse. And her physicality just emboldens the emotional gravitas of Malorie.

BIRD BOX would never work were it not for Ben Lester’s editing. Serious awards consideration should be given to Lester’s work here. The pacing of this film is well thought out and extremely well executed, as we start in present and then go into the past and then incrementally start moving forward to present day. We are on our toes and on the edge of our seats from beginning to end BUT we never lose our place. Quite often when going back and forth in non-linear fashion it becomes confusing for the audience. That doesn’t happen here. Bier’s direction is clear and concise and attention to details like the length of Malorie’s hair, holes in her pants, etc. keep the audience in tune with the specific time.

A key element of BIRD BOX is its sound design. Sound designers Ben Barker and Glenn Freemantle create an aural experience that is not only one to be savored, but one that is as much a line of dialogue or scripted emotional dance as Heisserer’s words on the page. Each sound of nature, the flutter of bird wings, the wafting of crackling fall leaves being swept up in the unseen spiral of the malevolence (punctuated with a foreboding electronic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), the snap of a branch underfoot, the tap of stones, the echo of a sound, the crunch of a tire running over a body, the piercing scream of one having met their worst fear face to face, the rush of a river or quiet of a whisper so as not to be detected, and the cacophony of silence in-between, tells just one more line, one more page of the story. Beyond award-worthy.

What Bier does from a directorial standpoint is outstanding. Never before has she delved into something this physically intense, but with BIRD BOX she nails the visual tonal bandwidth and perfectly marries it with story and emotion. Bier’s strongsuit is always character and emotion and that’s at the heart of BIRD BOX. But now we toss in this dystopian hell, in the forest, roaring rapids, and the visual dynamic is as tense and strong as the emotions of survival at play with Tom and Malorie, in particular.

Already an admirer the work of cinematographer Salvatore Totino, here the patina of the film is perfection, celebrating and immersing everything in the greys of fog, the dark forest green of trees and pine cabins in the woods, the blackish-grey of the river. That is then bookended with the bright colorful opening of the world, only shifting with the infusion of bright red blood in the hospital hallway with the woman smashing her head against the glass and gradually growing darker as insanity, death and destruction take hold of the world. And thanks to Totino, we are also met with the beauty of the bright greens, sparkling yellow sun, blue skies peeking through a screened courtyard roof. Color abounds with florals, lighting is shifted, camera angles widen to allow us to take in the beauty of “the nest at the top of the tree that opens to a world of children playing”. Loving the camera movement and dutching that Bier and Totino use during scenes of madness, as well as the overall more intimate mid or two-shots in moments of calm.

No matter how dystopian a world, man or woman cannot deny the inherent will to survive and overcome the fear of oneself and of the unknown. Sometimes all it takes is listening to the birds and soaring above death and destruction by whatever path you find. BIRD BOX shows the way.

Directed by Susanne Bier Written by Eric Heisserer based on Josh Malerman’s novel

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Tom Hollander, Machine Gun Kelly, Rosa Salazar, BD Wong

by debbie elias, 12/3/2018

Site Development: SoCal Web Content

Screen Rant

Bird box's ending & monsters explained.

Netflix’s Bird Box gives audiences mere glimpses of the movie’s eerie creatures. We explain the monsters, what they want, and what the ending means.

Netflix's new post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box is set in a world where just looking outside the window can get you killed, so we're here to explain the movie's mysterious monsters and its nail-biting ending. Sandra Bullock stars as Malorie, a woman who is trying to keep her two children - simply called Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair) - alive five years after almost everyone on Earth was killed by the arrival of entities that drive anyone who sees them to violent suicide.

Directed by Susanne Bier and based on the novel by Josh Malerman, Bird Box switches between two time periods: the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, and Malorie's fight for survival, and her efforts five years later to get herself and the kids safely down the river to a promised sanctuary. To begin with she finds herself with a large group of people in a safe house, and even manages to secure a treasure trove of food supplies. However, it isn't long before disaster whittles down their numbers to just Malorie, the two children, and romantic interest Tom (played by Moonlight 's Trevante Rhodes).

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Malorie and Tom are eking out a mostly peaceful survival in the woods when they receive a call on the radio from someone called Rick (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who tells them that if they can make it down the river there's somewhere safe for them. It's a big risk to take, and one that Malorie is resistant to at first, but Bird Box 's ending reveals why she decided to take her kids on such a dangerous trip.

This Page: What Happens in Bird Box's Ending
Page 2: What Are the Monsters in Bird Box?
Page 3: What Bird Box's Ending Really Means

What Happens in Bird Box's Ending

After the sweet but too-trusting Olympia (Danielle MacDonald) lets a stranger, Gary (Tom Hollander), into the house, it's eventually revealed that he is one of the people who can survive looking at the entities, but are corrupted in the process and driven to fanatical worship. Recognizable by their warped irises, these disciples are obsessed with getting other people to look at the entities, which they believe are beautiful. As Olympia and Malorie go into labor simultaneously, Gary reveals his true colors and begins ripping down the covers from the windows. Cheryl (Jacki Weaver) and Olympia both see the entities and promptly kill themselves, though Malorie is able to convince Olympia to hand over her baby girl before she dies. Gary also kills Douglas (John Malkovich) before he himself is finally killed by Tom.

At this point Bird Box moves forward five years in time, to shortly before Malorie takes the kids on the trip down the river. She and Tom are now a couple and have a mostly stable set-up where they can grow their own food, but they've already stripped almost all of the nearby houses bare of resources. After a frightening encounter with a roaming group of marauders corrupted by the entities, they receive a call on the radio from a stranger called Rick, who says there is a sanctuary that can be reached by two days travel along the river. Tom is keen to find out more about the sanctuary, while Malorie is far less trusting, believing that it could be a way to lure them out so that the entities can get them.

The next day, the whole family heads out on a supply run to a neighboring house, but while they're inside the group of marauders arrives at the house. Tom tells Malorie to take the kids and head for the boat if he doesn't return, and then goes to the front of the house to confront the marauders. He succeeds in wounding one of them with the shotgun, but quickly realizes that his blindfold is too much of a handicap. Tom removes his blindfold and successfully manages to kill most of the attackers, but one marauder (played by David Dastmalchian) spots Malorie and the children and takes off after them. Tom pursues him, but catches sight of one of the entities. His irises warp, but with great effort he manages to shoot the final marauder before he is compelled to shoot himself in the head.

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Malorie is distraught upon realizing that Tom must have sacrificed his own life to save them, and decides to carry out his dying wish to try and get herself and the children to the sanctuary. The movie then jumps forward to the moment when their boat is about to go over the rapids, the most dangerous part of the river, and Malorie must choose which of the children has to take off their blindfold in order to tell her which way to row. Ultimately she cannot bring herself to choose either of them, and instead decides to tackle the rapids blind - for better or worse. It's a rough trip, during which the boat eventually overturns, but they manage to make it to shore and start searching for the sanctuary by listening to birdsong.

The final part of the journey proves to be the most difficult. Walking blindfolded through unfamiliar woods is treacherous, and Malorie trips and falls down a slope, briefly knocking herself out. The children wander off in different directions and the entities whisper to them in Malorie's voice, encouraging them to take off their blindfolds. Malorie manages to find Boy by the ringing of his bicycle bell, but Girl has dropped hers and won't come when called, because - as Boy explains - Malorie has been so harsh with them that Girl is afraid of her. Panicking, Malorie apologizes and finishes the story that Tom was telling them earlier, promising that one day the children will be able to play freely with other children and climb trees. To her relief, Girl finally returns, and the three of them make their way to the sanctuary.

Banging frantically on the door as the entities gather behind her, Malorie begs the people inside to at least let her children in. Eventually the door opens and the three of them are ushered inside, where their eyes are quickly checked for signs of infection. Once they are cleared, Malorie realizes that the sanctuary is actually a school for the blind, so most of the inhabitants are completely immune to the entities. Inside the school is a courtyard filled with birds and covered by a green canopy. Malorie tells the children that they can set the birds in their bird box free now, and they do so, watching the birds fly up into the canopy.

Malorie is then reunited with her OB-GYN, Dr. Lapham (Parminder Nagra), who has also survived and is relieved to see that Malorie made it as well. She asks the children what their names are, and they tell her they are called Boy and Girl. Malorie then decides to finally give them names, calling the girl Olympia (after her mother) and the boy Tom (after his late adoptive father). Olympia and Tom then run off to play with the other children, and Bird Box ends on a hopeful note, with Malorie looking up at the canopy full of birds.

Page 2: What Are the Monsters?

What are the monsters in bird box.

Bird Box 's ending doesn't offer any clear answers as to where the entities came from, whether they're supernatural or alien in nature, or even what exactly people see when they look at them. However, by the end of the movie we do have a fairly clear idea of how they operate, and it's possible that the charcoal drawings (pictured above) that Gary lays out on the coffee table before he goes on his killing spree show what he sees when he looks at the entities.

What we do know about the monsters is that they're invisible when no one is looking at them (or at least, that's how the Bier chooses to portray them), but they are detectable by the way they affect gravity - arriving in gusts of wind that blow leaves around, and even causing leaves to lift off the ground and hover in the air. When they get close to Girl, her hair can be seen lifting from her head. The monsters don't appear to be strong enough to physically harm people or even break through doors and windows, which is why they rely on some people becoming their disciples and trying to force others into looking at them. It's implied that these disciples were people who were already mentally ill, and are therefore affected differently by seeing the entities.

Related: Bird Box Almost Showed The Creature - Here's What It Would Have Looked Like

As for what most people see when they look at the entities... well, it's never fully spelled out, but it seems to always be something that makes the person either terribly afraid, terribly sad, or both. Lydia (Rebecca Pidgeon), for example, calls out to her mother before climbing into a burning car. Whatever it is that they see, it's clear that the sight alone isn't enough to drive people to suicide. Looking at these creatures also causes physical damage - like the warping of people's irises - so it's safe to assume that they automatically trigger some kind of suicidal impulse inside the brain. This impulse cannot be ignored, but it can be briefly resisted with great effort, which is what allows Olympia to hand over her baby before killing herself, and allows Tom to take out the marauder before turning the gun on himself.

The characters themselves float some theories as to what the monsters are. Douglas thinks it's some kind of biological warfare, while Charlie (Lil Rel Howery) thinks that humanity has been judged and found wanting, and points to his research on the topic of demons and the apocalypse. He cites Zorastrian myths about Aka Manah (a seductive demonic entity), the Christian demon Surgat ("who opens all locks"), the Chinese fox spirits known as the huli jing, and the mischievous Celtic spirits called púca. Charlie posits that these are all different names for the same thing: a demonic entity that preys on people.

Based on the fact that the entities seem to have supernatural knowledge of people's weaknesses (they know to call out to Malorie in her sister's voice, and in Tom's), and Gary's drawings of them, Charlie's theory that the monsters are demonic in nature seems pretty sound. This is also reinforced by the fact that birds are able to sense their presence, since in many mythologies, cultures and religions birds are associated with psychopomps - spirits that guide people from the land of the living to the land of the dead.

Page 3: What Bird Box's Ending Really Means

Bird box is a story about learning to hope.

Bird Box is as much a character study as it is a post-apocalyptic thriller, examining the different ways in which people cope with the apparent end of the world. Early on in the movie, Malorie is deliberately paired up with Olympia so that audiences can see the contrast between the two pregnant women. Olympia openly admits that she is very soft, having been spoiled by her parents and then taken care of by her husband, without ever having really had to fend for herself. In contrast to Olympia's sweetness, compassion, and trusting nature, Malorie is much more hardened, having been raised by a bad father and forced to look out for herself from an early age. This hardness is only compounded by her experiences in the apocalypse: seeing how Olympia's trusting nature gets herself and almost everyone else killed, and taking on board Douglas' pearls of wisdom about how there are only two kinds of people - " the a**holes, and the dead ."

Malorie is ultimately afraid of allowing herself to openly love her children, for fear that she will make them too soft or that it will hurt too much when she loses them. Because of this fear, she refuses to give them real names, referring to them only as "Girl" and "Boy," despite Tom's objections. She is focused only on ensuring their survival, and clashes with Tom when he tries to give them hope by telling them a story about climbing a tree and finding a bird's nest at the top. She is angry at him for promising things she doesn't believe they'll ever get to enjoy, while Tom insists that simply surviving isn't the same as living.

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The promised sanctuary is a symbol of this dilemma. While it represents hope for a better future, it also represents the risk of opening oneself up to betrayal. Bird Box makes it clear that the entities' disciples are clever, and will use all kinds of trickery in order to lure people out into the open. The radio call from Rick is deliberately ambiguous with several red flags, such as Rick asking for their location and asking if they have any children with them (the disciples seem to have a particular fascination with children).

Bird Box 's ending ultimately demonstrates that Malorie's ruthless approach to survival is as dangerous as Olympia's naivete and compassion. When Girl wanders off in the woods, she is so afraid of Malorie that she almost succumbs to the entities, and it's not until Malorie embraces Tom's outlook of hope and optimism for the future that Girl is eventually returned to her.

The Real Meaning of Bird Box's Ending

There's a deeper meaning to the revelation that the sanctuary is actually a school for the blind. It represents the power of blind faith - the kind of faith that Malorie had when she chose to take on the rapids with both herself and her children blindfolded. That was a decision that thrust them into danger, but ultimately they all survived - something that probably would not have happened if one of the children had been forced to look where they were going.

Bird Box 's ending perfectly summarizes the movie's upending of ideas about what constitutes weakness and what constitutes strength. Malorie thinks that to love openly is a weakness, but opening herself up to love is what saves her children. Similarly, blindness (which is typically thought of as a handicap) turns out to be the ultimate protection against the monsters. Not only are Rick and the other blind people immune to the effects of both suicide and madness, they're also especially well-prepared for a world where the ability to operate without sight is a key survival trait.

Malorie's final acts in Bird Box - naming Olympia and Tom, sending them off to play with other children, and setting the birds free - represent her finally letting down the wall she has built up around herself. The birds in the bird box represent the way she has carefully kept her own feelings caged, and so the movie's final shot is an image of hope, openness, and faith that things will get better.

More: Read Screen Rant's Review of Bird Box

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DVD & Streaming
Drama , Horror , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

December 13, 2018
Sandra Bullock as Malorie; Trevante Rhodes as Tom; John Malkovich as Douglas; Sarah Paulson as Jessica; Jacki Weaver as Cheryl; Rosa Salazar as Lucy; Danielle Macdonald as Olympia; Lil Rel Howery as Charlie; Tom Hollander as Gary; Machine Gun Kelly as Felix; BD Wong as Greg; Pruitt Taylor Vince as Rick; Vivien Lyra Blair as Girl; Julian Edwards as Boy

Home Release Date

December 21, 2018
Susanne Bier

Distributor

Movie review.

She calls them Boy and Girl.

Names are a luxury in a world gone mad. Malory knows they could die any day, any moment. No point following cultural norms or social niceties in a land of unseen horror. Joy and hope are a relic. It’s eat or be eaten. Kill … or kill yourself.

Malory remembers when the world was as it should be, just five short years ago. Oh, there were problems, sure. Malory, an artist back then, lived like a hermit—painting her artwork in solitude, her only point of human contact being her brusque but loving sister, Jessica.

And Malory knew she’d have to expand her social network by one. She was pregnant then—the byproduct of an ill-advised and ever-so-short relationship. Malory tries to ignore the growing life in her, calling her pregnancy a “condition” and the creature inside a “little bean.”

“You can’t just ignore it and hope it goes away,” her doctor tells Malory, giving her a pamphlet on adoption.

Thoughts of adoption, however, vanished minutes later, along with the world’s collective sanity.

On the way out, Malory watched as a woman rammed her head into a reinforced glass window again and again—spiderweb cracks spreading underneath the growing blot of blood. Outside, the chaos crescendoed. Cars rammed each other. Instead of running away from flames, some walked into them. And then, Malory’s sister went mad as well: After driving helter-skelter through the streets she suddenly stopped her SUV, walked into the street and stepped in front of a racing dump truck.

Malory found safety with a handful of others in a nearby house. Together, the survivors pieced together a few critical bits of information. The planet had been invaded. But the invaders don’t attack physically: Just looking at them was something deadly: Most victims will kill themselves as quickly as possible. The very few who survive that initial glance seem enthralled by the creatures. Beautiful , they call them, as if they were angels. And compulsively, they seek to show others that beauty—ripping off blindfolds, forcing their eyes open.

So many have died since she hid in that house five years ago. Now she feels wholly alone—just her and two children, Boy and Girl. Food is dwindling. Nearby houses have been picked clean. And enthralled human marauders circle ever closer.

But Malory’s heard of a place downstream—a walled refuge from the terror. All they have to do is take a boat and ride the current down, down toward the sound of birds.

She’ll just have to make the journey blindfolded. With two kids in tow. And somehow, they’ll have to figure out how to navigate the rapids—impossible to get through, she’s told, without seeing them.

Someone will have to open their eyes.

Positive Elements

Malory is a fierce and dutiful mother, if not particularly affectionate. “Every single decision I have made has been for them!” She yells at her lover, Tom. “Every single one!” And we have no doubt that it’s true.

But Tom counters that being a mom means more than just protecting her kids: It means loving them, inspiring them and giving them a little hope—even in the worst of circumstances. On a gut level, that’s really what Bird Box is about: To explore what it means to live and love and be human when circumstances seek to strip away that humanity with every step.

Bird Box —much of which is told in an extended flashback to Malory’s time in the house—forces its characters into plenty of difficult situations, where people must choose between showing a little mercy and solely seeking self-preservation. And honestly, the merciful choice doesn’t always end positively. But even when it doesn’t, the movie hints that, maybe, it’s still the right choice: To err in favor of helping others is how we stay human. We may not always live as long in a terrible world, it suggests, but we’re more likely to live a life worth living. It’s a lesson that Malory eventually learns as well. We also see acts of self-sacrifice from others, too.

Spiritual Elements

The creatures in Bird Box are very different than most alien invaders. They don’t seem to be after food or resources or domination: Their attacks are of the mind, not body. The creatures’ victims sometimes seem to see and hear people who they lost long before. As such, the attacks feel almost spiritual.

That’s not lost on Charlie, one of the survivors locked in the house with Malory. The fledgling novelist suggests the attackers are demons . He launches into a laundry list of worldwide myths and legends about such creatures that kill through thoughts of fear and loss. And he tells his listeners that perhaps the world is in its “end game. Humanity has been judged and we’ve been found wanting.”

Interestingly, the humans who fall under the thrall of these dark denizens do not treat them as demons, but angelic rescuers—beautiful and divine and worth serving. “It will cleanse the world,” one man insists.

One of the people in the house makes a reference to hell. Someone says “thank you Lord Jesus” with some sincerity, and we see a church in the background.

Sexual Content

In the house, Malory walks in on two people having sex in the laundry room. They’re both completely naked (though critical parts are shielded from view): We see sexual movements briefly before an embarrassed Malory walks away. “That’s something you can’t unsee,” a knowing Tom tells Malory, and he’s absolutely right.

Mallory and Tom fall in love and become a couple. (They’re unwed, but given the obvious scarcity of priests, we can’t speak to whether they’d like to make it official or not.) We see the two kiss and (briefly) begin to have sex: We see Tom’s bare torso once or twice, and Malory wears a silky nightgown one night.

Some bare pregnant bellies are seen on occasion. We learn that the man who owns the house/refuge has a husband (who wasn’t, apparently, at home). Tom, who’s a bit younger than Malory, flirts with her, saying that it would’ve been nice if they could’ve met earlier. Malory, acknowledging their age difference, quips, “I could’ve been your babysitter.” “My hot babysitter,” Tom counters. Douglas, one of the survivors staying in the home, has been married three times. A woman wears a revealing top.

Violent Content

When Jessica walks head-on into that dump truck, we see the impact—body and blood mixed before the truck speeds off camera. Also, as mentioned, a woman smashes her head into a glass window over and over.

Someone stabs herself in the throat repeatedly. A man tied to a chair manages to tip himself over and smash his head in (off camera). He’s found dead, blood pooling on the floor from his unseen wound. Someone leaps from a window and falls to her death. Someone else walks calmly into a car engulfed in flames and sits down in the driver’s seat before the vehicle blows up. Cars careen into each other. People shoot themselves. We hear about other apparent suicides, and we learn that before the violence hit North America, tens of thousands of people had died overseas.

Bird Box’ s violence isn’t just sequestered to suicides, though. One man is stabbed repeatedly in the chest with a pair of scissors, blood pouring from the wound. Several are shot via revolvers, rifles and shot guns, and many die that way. A guy is hacked with a machete: The wounds don’t immediately kill him, and he sinks in a river to apparently drown. A man attacks someone enthralled by the creatures in order to save his friends—pushing him through a door and off camera. We later see blood flow from underneath the door, confirming a fatality.

Characters (using detailed GPS) drive a car with blacked-out windows through some suburban streets littered with debris and bodies: We hear the tires crunch the head of a corpse. (“Just a speed bump,” Tom says, though everyone knows it’s not true.) Untended corpses litter several other scenes, too. We witness scenes of chaos and carnage on the news. A boat overturns, sending people into cold, rushing water. Guns are pointed. People are threatened. Someone gets knocked unconscious with a vase. Two women go into painful labor at the same time. Malory threatens to “hurt” her kids if they disobey her during a dangerous trip.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear at least 42 f-words and about 17 s-words. Other profanities include “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “pr–k.” God’s name is misused about 15 times, about a third of those with the word “d–n.” Jesus’ name is abused once.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Before the incident, Jessica and a pregnant Malory talk—in front of Malory’s obstetrician—about ordering and finishing a bottle of wine. They never make that appointment, but later, a still pregnant Malory does sip a little whiskey.

During a supply run, one of the house’s inhabitants—a next-door neighbor named Douglas—heads straight for the liquor aisle. “This is truly the happiest place on earth,” he says, as he drinks straight from a liquor bottle. He brings home plenty of booze, and we see him imbibe a lot of it.

Other Negative Elements

Douglas is a jerk. He’ll own up to it, too, but he says that in this new world, his aggressive selfishness only makes sense: “Only two types of people,” he tells Malory. “The a–holes and the dead.” We see him make self-serving decisions, berate others for inconveniencing his own well-being and happiness, and he strongly encourages others to do the same—sometimes even threatening them. He’s not alone, by the way. Two other house inhabitants commit a deeply selfish act that threatens the rest.

Malory vomits in a toilet. She can come across as a pretty unloving mom, too—her detachment and aggression, of course, the product of desperation and fear.

There’s an old cliché about nothing being stronger than a mother’s love. And lots of times, that’s true. But not every mother’s love is gentle.

Malory says she was “raised by wolves,” under the strict, demanding hand of her father. Given her upbringing, she never wanted to be a mother. Now she is, and she takes her responsibilities—or what she sees as her responsibilities—very seriously.

But she’s missing something.

“Life is more than what is,” Tom tells her. “It’s what it could be. You need to promise them dreams that might never come true. You need to love them, knowing that you could lose them at any second.”

Malory’s so wrapped up in surviving the present that she forgets to give her children hope for the future. I think there’s an intentional real-world echo to be found in that.. . Hope and love—these are the things that life is built from, Bird Box tells us. Without it, we live in fear and despair, if we live at all.

Such is the movie’s message, and it’s a good one as far as it goes. But the story itself travels rough roads getting there. And while it’s hard to find a pretty vision of the “end of the world” in movies, this can feel particularly bleak and violent.

It gives me an even greater appreciation of A Quiet Place —a similar movie released, like Bird Box , in 2018. There, humanity also has been largely destroyed by unknown visitors—one where sound, not sight, is the killer. Again, we see a strong mother willing to do whatever she can to save her children, (including the unborn one she carries). But A Quiet Place tells its story with more power and less content, settling into theaters with (an admittedly caveat-filled) PG-13 and becoming a surprise awards-season contender.

Bird Box won’t be up for any awards, most likely, and it’s R all the way. It didn’t need to be. Its good messages are undermined by its sex, language and brutality. And like its beleaguered characters, I wonder whether a blindfold might be in order.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Bird Box Review

21 Dec 2018

Perhaps too hastily and unfairly dubbed as ‘ A Quiet Place (but without sight)’ simply for having a vaguely similar high-concept premise, The Night Manager director Susanne Bier ’s Bird Box presents a chilling and uncompromisingly dark post-apocalyptic narrative. Adapted from Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel of the same name, it’s a promising production which may ultimately suffer from failing to measure up tonally and thematically to John Krasinski ’s game-changing horror narrative.

Presenting a slow-burning, if at times overly simplistic plot, Bird Box actually owes more to the old George A. Romero bleak and unforgiving “end of the world” films of antagonistic survivors than it does to A Quiet Place ’s more straightforward monster story.

Reluctant, single mother-to-be Malorie has given very little thought to the fate awaiting her after the birth of her unwanted child. Pressed by her worried sister ( Sarah Paulson in a disappointingly brief appearance) to attend a scheduled prenatal appointment, the two find themselves caught up in the chaos when a mysterious force starts killing people. Holed up indoors with a group of strangers, including a resourceful construction worker, played with great conviction by Trevante Rhodes , and a cantankerous, bad-mannered drunk ( John Malkovich ), Malorie has no other option but to rely on these strangers if she and her unborn child are to survive the end of the world.

Sandra Bullock excels as a woman who has learnt to rely solely on her survival instincts.

Re-emerging five years later, Malorie has learnt to live with the horrors of what awaits her and the two children she’s trying to get to safety. Refusing to even give the five-year-olds names, we sense she sees the world as an unforgiving place in which it pays not to get too attached to anyone.

Giving a beautifully measured performance, Sandra Bullock excels as a woman who has learnt to rely solely on her survival instincts and pragmatic nature without ever losing her humanity. For his part, Malkovich is brilliantly acerbic and suitably petulant as a glass-half-empty kind of guy for whom the apocalypse serves to prove that his misanthropy was the right choice all along.

As we follow two parallel narratives which take us back and forth between the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic events and a few years into the future, screenwriter Eric Heisserer is able to develop a story which takes into account the effect of the events on his embattled survivors, but only with mixed results.

Bier does an impressive job in offering the apocalypse as a deeply traumatic, claustrophobic and utterly hopeless experience, electing to present a world in which survivors are far more likely to meet a gruesome end at each other’s hands than have to worry about what awaits them outside. But in proffering a decidedly contrived dystopian narrative where each character behaves exactly how you would expect them to, Bird Box fails to bring anything new to the post-apocalyptic genre.

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Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a mother and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
In the wake of an unknown global terror, a mother must find the strength to flee with her children down a treacherous river in search of safety. Due to unseen deadly forces, the perilous journey must be made blindly. Directed by Emmy winner Susanne Bier, Bird Box is a thriller starring Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes. — Netflix
Amid a nightmarish new reality where an unseen malevolent force wipes out the global population, single mother-of-two Malorie embarks on a life-threatening quest to find the last protected haven on Earth. However, in this dangerous quest, eyesight is the real enemy. And as the vulnerable blindfolded protector summons up the courage to follow faint shreds of hope, darkness may be the only thing that stands between humans and the invisible adversary. But the rules of survival have changed. Will Malorie and her kids live to see another day? — Nick Riganas
The film starts with a woman named Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) telling two kids, known only as Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair), that they are going to take a dangerous trip across the water, and she stresses how urgent it is that they keep their blindfolds on as they head outside. Malorie grabs a box with her pet birds inside and guides the kids outside by following a string trail before finding the boat and hopping in on the river. Five years earlier. Malorie is an artist who is pregnant. She is visited by her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson), and the two watch a news report on unexplained mass suicides that started in Siberia and is now spreading across Europe. Jess notices Malorie's painting, which she says symbolizes a lack of connection, but Jess tells her that it won't be like that with the baby. She then offers to escort Malorie to the doctor. Malorie visits Dr. Lapham (Parminder Nagra) and makes jokes with Jess about drinking while pregnant. Lapham doesn't find the comments too humorous and offers Malorie an alternative to let someone adopt the baby if she feels she isn't ready to raise it. On their way out of the office, Malorie and Jess notice a woman they passed earlier now acting erratic and banging her head against the glass window. They realize that whatever was affecting people in Europe and Siberia has now arrived in America. They run outside just as the chaos is happening, with people crashing their cars in the street. Jess drives Malorie away, but not long after, Jess's eyes turn a weird color as she starts to appear frightened by something only she can see. She drives frantically, with Malorie trying to keep her on the road, but Jess flips the car and crashes. They survive, but Jess is still under a trance, and Malorie can only watch as her sister steps in front of a truck. Malorie runs along with everyone else. She is knocked over and falls in front of a house. A woman named Lydia (Rebecca Pidgeon) steps out of her house to go help Malorie, even as her husband Douglas (John Malkovich) objects to it. Before Lydia can help Malorie up, she appears to go into a trance and seems to be talking to her mother. Lydia walks into a burning car that soon explodes. A man named Tom (Trevante Rhodes) helps Malorie up and runs into the house. They are followed by a cop named Lucy (Rosa Salazar). Also in the house are Greg (BD Wong), the homeowner, Charlie (Lil Rel Howery), Felix (Machine Gun Kelly), Cheryl (Jackie Weaver), and a couple named Jason (Taylor Handley) and Samantha (Amy Gumenick). The latter two flee the house when they hear their son over the phone sounding like he's in danger. The other people all tell each other what they have seen in those who have been afflicted by this mysterious force. Charlie suspects that the entity is caused by demons that take the form of one's deepest sadness or greatest loss. They all realize that the entity is invisible and that looking at it will cause one to commit suicide. Malorie steps away from the group, and Tom goes to comfort her as she tells him what happened to Jess. The group then boards up the doors and place newspapers on the windows to prevent anyone from looking outside. In the present day, after six hours on the river, Malorie and the children continue to go down the river as it is now pitch black. Malorie makes attempts to contact people over the radio, and she starts to hear the entity whispering her name. Back in the past, a survivor named Olympia (Danielle Macdonald) pleads to be let in the house. Douglas tries to prevent this, but Malorie grabs a rifle just in case. The others carefully allow Olympia into the house, and they see that she is also pregnant. Greg then offers to observe whatever is outside by checking out the transmitters in the house. He sits in front of the computers waiting to see something on the monitors, and then it looks as though he does. And then the others hear a thumping coming from the room. They rush upstairs in time to see Greg tip himself over and smash his head against an edge, killing him. The others then destroy the computer monitor. Later that night, Olympia tries to talk with Malorie over their potential baby names, but Malorie just wants to be left alone. She walks around and thinks she hears a thumping noise in the house, but she finds it's just Lucy and Felix hooking up. Fourteen hours on the river. Malorie hears the voice of a man (Happy Anderson) calling out and saying it's safe to take the blindfolds off, but Malorie orders the kids not to do so. He claims he has food and that he has seen the entity, saying there's no reason to be scared of it. Malorie takes out her gun and fires blindly, just before the man attacks her and tries to take her blindfold off. Malorie fights the man and kills him by hacking at him with a machete. Back in the past, the group has begun to run out of food, and they know help isn't coming. Malorie, Tom, Douglas, Lucy, and Charlie get together to go to the supermarket where Charlie used to work since he locked the place up as things went sideways. They paint over the windows and use the GPS to guide them. On the road, they feel that they are driving over dead bodies and try to ignore it. The GPS then starts going off over a proximity alert, meaning the entity is surrounding them. Tom manages to drive them out of harm's way. They get to the market and grab as much food as they can. Malorie sees some birds that she decides to take with her as pets. Suddenly, they hear the voice of Charlie's co-worker Fish Fingers (Matt Leonard) locked in a freezer and begging to be let out. He then starts going on about how the entity is beautiful and must be seen. Fish Fingers starts to break out while Lucy, Tom, and Douglas try to hold him back. Charlie then sees the entity and realizes he is doomed. He charges toward Fish Fingers and has them both shut in the freezer where Charlie dies, letting the others return home. Fish Fingers' voice is still heard begging to be let out. That night, Malorie briefly bonds with Douglas over their personal problems. The others then hear what sounds like the car being driven away. They go into the garage and find that it's gone, and so are Lucy and Felix. 24 hours on the river Malorie stops rowing to take a break. When she resumes, she bumps the boat into a sunken truck, and Boy falls out of the boat, but Malorie pulls him out and tries to warm him, but the food and blankets have fallen into the river, so she does her best to warm Boy up. She leaves the kids in the boat as she heads into the woods to try and gather food. Malorie enters a building where she hears a noise and sees things moving on their own, being pulled by the entity. She manages to make her way out of the building, but the entity continues to whisper her name. Malorie fires her gun at the unseen entity, which Girl hears and so she leaves the boat to help Malorie, but she finds Girl and grabs her, scolding her for leaving the boat as they return to it. In the past, Tom tells Malorie about how he was stationed in Iraq, and he and his comrades would follow a man as he was escorting his kids to school in the middle of all the chaos. The two of them also start to develop feelings for each other. Olympia lets a desperate man named Gary (Tom Hollander) into the house. The others aggressively search and interrogate Gary. He tells the others that some escaped mental patients came after him and his friend, forcing the two of them to look at the creatures. Gary's friend fought one of them, allowing him to get away and run to the house. He says there are also people outside not wearing blindfolds, willingly trying to see the creatures and wanting others to see them. Douglas doesn't trust Gary and tries to force him out of the house at gunpoint, but Cheryl knocks him out and lets Gary stay, and they lock Douglas in the garage. Olympia tearfully apologizes for letting Gary in and says she feels like a burden, but Malorie tells her she isn't. Olympia then asks Malorie to take care of her baby if something happens to her, and Malorie agrees. She then gives Olympia a Hello Kitty toy to give the baby. 38 hours on the river We see Girl holding the Hello Kitty toy, indicating she is Olympia's daughter. Malorie gets herself and the kids under a blanket to warn them that they are approaching the rapids, and that it will be the most dangerous part of the journey. She tells them that somebody is going to have to have their eyes open to navigate, and both kids volunteer, but Malorie decides it's not worth sacrificing either of them, so she says nobody will look, and they will just brave the rapids with blindfolds. Past Both Malorie and Olympia begin to go into labor. While Tom and Cheryl help the women, Gary takes out a bunch of drawings of the creatures, as he is one of the crazy people who has seen them and wants others to see them. He takes Malorie's birds and puts them in the fridge (since they appear to sense and alert others to danger) before tearing the papers off the windows, which Douglas observes. Gary opens the garage door to try and get rid of Douglas. Meanwhile, Olympia gives birth to a girl while Malorie gives birth to a boy. Gary enters the room and pulls the blinds up in front of Olympia. She hands Malorie her baby right before she jumps out the window. Gary then forces Cheryl to open her eyes to the outside, causing her to kill herself with scissors. Douglas comes in with the rifle, but cannot shoot with his eyes open and is afraid to hit Malorie and the babies. He manages to shoot Gary in the arm, but he kills Douglas by stabbing him with the scissors. Tom then sees the rifle and tries to grab it, as does Gary. Two gunshots are heard, but Tom is seen alive going to be with Malorie and the babies. It is now five years later, just before the start of the film. Malorie and Tom have been living together, raising the two kids, but Tom calls Malorie out for not connecting with them or even giving them names. They hear something outside, and it's some people driving their cars out with no blindfolds or covers on the windows. Malorie starts setting up her system outside as a warning for the kids. At night, the two receive a radio transmission from a man named Rick, who says he is at a safe compound with plenty of supplies and food. He instructs them on how to make it to the compound down the river, telling them how dangerous it is to go down there with children, and how they will need to see in order to get through. Rick tells them to follow the sound of birds to find the place. Tom wants to go to the compound, but Malorie thinks it could be a trap. Outside, the survivors from earlier make it to the house. Tom goes to confront them while Malorie and the kids get out safely. The survivors, led by "Whistling Marauder" (David Dastmalchian), order Tom to take off his blindfold. When they spot Malorie and the kids, Tom fires and kills three of the marauders before he takes one shot himself. Tom takes off his blindfold and kills two more before going after the leader, who is stalking Malorie and the kids. The entity starts to affect Tom, but he fights it long enough to kill the leader before turning the gun on himself, letting Malorie know Tom is gone. Malorie then gets the kids together to head onto the river. It has now been 42 hours on the river, and they are fast approaching the rapids. They reach the bumpy waters, which Malorie tries to get through, but the boat flips over and everyone falls out. Malorie calls out to the kids and finds Boy in the water, while Girl has made it to the land, and Malorie finds her because Girl has a bell that she keeps ringing. The three then walk through the woods where the entity whispers to them and uses all its power to try and get them to see, but Malorie's will is stronger, and she gets the kids to listen to her and not look. She follows the sounds of the birds as they make it to the compound, but the entity surrounds them as she tries to make it inside until someone opens the door and lets them in. Malorie's eyes are checked, and she and the kids are cleared for entry. They meet Rick (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and Malorie discovers that the compound is a school for the blind, and the people in there are protected from the entities. Malorie and the kids then find Dr. Lapham, who happily greets them. She asks the kids their names, and Malorie finally names them - Girl is named Olympia after her mother, and Boy is named after Tom. Malorie proudly says they are her children and she is their mother. Malorie then opens her bird box and frees the birds to be with the others in the sanctuary.

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Bird Box's Ending, Explained

Despite its dark premise, Bird Box ends on an optimistic note, giving fans hope that its characters may one day have a brighter future.

Bird Box ends on a hopeful note, but despite its optimistic ending, it still leaves many unanswered questions.
Malorie went on an emotional journey and finally opened her heart to her family.
The world of Bird Box still needs to give humanity a fighting chance.

Bird Box quickly rose to prominence when it came out in 2018, and while the movie's suspenseful atmosphere had fans on the edge of their seats, the ending still left a lot of questions unanswered. The true horror of the plot lied in the fact that the film's monsters were not something that could be fought, only avoided. Humanity is forced to hide from the assailant and hope that this was enough to stay safe. Given how the events of the movie played out, even the safest of places often feel like they are living on borrowed time.

However, despite its terrifying premise, Bird Box ends on a hopeful note by allowing its protagonist, Malorie, to find a safe place for her family. It also brought her own emotional journey to a close after she hardened herself to avoid more pain, but finally opened her heart again following the harrowing journey to a safe place. Still, as unexpected as her happy ending is, questions still remain about the film's conclusion and whether there is more to come for this post-apocalyptic world.

Bird Box's Monsters Force Its Protagonists to See No Evil

Bird Box 's apocalypse robs humanity of their ability to see, forcing them to operate in blindness or suffer the consequences.
Throughout the movie, mysterious entities drive humans mad and force them to kill themselves.

Bird Box Barcelona's Big Twist Reveals Even More Sadistic Monsters

The apocalypse in Bird Box is unique, as it robs humanity of their sense of sight — just not in a literal sense. Through unknown means and origins , creatures known as entities spread across the planet. They are never seen physically onscreen, but the effect they have is immediate. Just by looking at them, most people are pushed to commit suicide, and they often do so in grisly ways that propel the story's horror-driven narrative. To avoid this fate, human survivors have taken to blindfolding themselves when they go outside and sealing off any openings to the outside world in whatever shelter they can find.

For a time, this is the fate of the film's protagonist, Malorie. Immediately after the start of the apocalypse, she finds a small group of survivors that take shelter in a house, sealing it off from the outside for safety. Unfortunately, death is not the only thing the entities can cause. In some people (theorized to be people with an existing mental disorder), the entities appear as "beautiful" to them, guiding these "seers" to try and convince other people to look at the entities.

Bird Box Barcelona's Biggest Plot Holes & Mysteries Left Unanswered

One such seer managed to infiltrate Malorie's group and pick them off one by one, leaving only Malorie, her husband Tom, and two babies as the survivors. One of these infants was Malorie's biological son, and the other was the daughter of Malorie's friend, Olympia, who was also killed in the attack.

The movie then skipped forward five years, with Malorie and Tom raising the children as their own, though Malorie initially refuses to give them names, simply referring to them as "Boy" and "Girl." Though they had managed to make a life for themselves in this apocalypse, they also recognized that it was not feasible to stay in their refuge. Every day left them with fewer resources and then there was the question of the kids themselves and how they would survive once Malorie and Tom were gone.

Malorie Stumbles Blindly Towards Safety

Unable to stay in their refuge any longer, Malorie and her children embark on a dangerous journey in the second half of Bird Box .
After making it to safety, Malorie gives her children proper names and admits to being their mother.

Bird Box Barcelona: Directors Alex & Davis Pastor on Making Unseen Forces Terrifying

As they attempt to survive, Malorie, Tom, and their children become aware of a sanctuary deep in the woods that is supposedly safe. To get there, they would need to travel by boat. Unfortunately, almost immediately after they left the safety of their home they were attacked by more seers, forcing Tom to open his eyes to fend them off before taking his own life. Malorie was left to make the harrowing journey on her own and is separated from the children in the process. The entities, sensing an opportunity, try to convince the children to take off their blindfolds. This finally prompted Malorie to admit how much she loved the children, even though she had tried to maintain an emotional distance from them for their entire lives.

Against all odds, Malorie and her children are able to reunite and find shelter before it is too late. As it turned out, this bastion was once a school for the blind and had become a safe haven for dozens of other people to live a (relatively) normal life together. The movie ends with Malorie naming her children after Tom and Olympia, before finally admitting that she was their mother. The family was now safe for the foreseeable future, and they have a much better chance of thriving now that they are around other people.

Bird Box Barcelona's Shocking Ending, Explained

Even better, Malorie ends Bird Box after going through a complete emotional arc. When the apocalypse first started, Malorie suffered tragic and horrific losses. Her older sister had died because of the entities, then almost all of her fellow survivors were wiped out by the manipulations of a seer, proving that even other human survivors may not be safe to be around. Finally, Tom was taken away from her, once again protecting them all from the human threat presented by this world.

Malorie almost lost her children too before she had a chance to express how much she loved them. Their brush with death, as well as their new home, finally prompted Malorie to lower her walls. She had neglected to name the children because it would have tied them to her and made their relationship too real to ignore, but in their new safe haven, she could finally admit to being what she had always been: their mother.

The World of Bird Box Can Still Be Explored

The world of Bird Box still has plenty of unanswered questions, as Malorie and her family are unable to get any real answers about the apocalypse.
The origins of the entities are still unknown, but the film's sequel suggests that humanity is developing a way to resist the entities.

The reality of Malorie's story is that it only tells a small piece of the bigger picture. Malorie is not some significant person whose destiny is to one day defeat the entities. She's just a human being who was fortunate enough to survive long enough to find a place of refuge. Her story is representative of what humanity may be enduring as a whole, but it is not the only answer to the threat that is the entity. In fact, there are many things about the world of Bird Box that desperately need to be explored .

For starters, there is still no definitive answer about what the entities are. Some theories posit that they are aliens trying to destroy humanity through mental attacks. Another suggests they are demons targeting humanity's worst fears and grief. One even suggests they are extradimensional beings that are viewing the world from their reality. Bird Box Barcelona speculates on this quite a bit, and proves that the franchise still has plenty of room to grow beyond the confines of the book.

Most important of all is this: humanity cannot survive like this. They need the space to grow, and cannot sustain themselves indoors forever. Eventually, they need to find a way to fight these entities. Again, Bird Box Barcelona offered a hint of this, with scientists at the end working on a kind of antibody that could make them immune to the entities and their influence . The movies conclude with the apocalypse still going strong, but each one offers a more hopeful note, suggesting that humanity can come back from this in the end.

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Exploring the Themes and Symbolism of “Bird Box” Movie

The movie “Bird Box” took the world by storm upon its release in December 2018, quickly becoming one of the most talked-about films on social media. Directed by Susanne Bier and starring Sandra Bullock, the movie is a post-apocalyptic thriller that follows the journey of a woman named Malorie as she tries to navigate a world in which a mysterious force has caused people to commit suicide upon seeing it. The movie’s popularity can be attributed to its intense storyline and the nuanced performances of its cast. In this article, we will delve deeper into the movie’s plot, characters, symbolism, themes, cinematography, and its impact on popular culture. We will explore what makes this movie so compelling and why it has captured the imagination of audiences around the world.

Bird Box Plot summary

Bird box movie characters, symbolism and themes of movie bird box, bird box review movie: cinematography and direction, reception and impact, bird box explained movie.

The plot of “Bird Box” is centered around the concept of sight, and the dangers that come with it. The story is told through two timelines, one in the present day and one in the past. In the present day, Malorie, along with two children whom she has taken under her wing, is trying to navigate a treacherous river in a blindfold, all while being pursued by an unseen force that seeks to harm them. In the past, we see Malorie struggling to survive in a world that is rapidly falling apart as people begin to take their own lives after seeing something that drives them to madness.

Throughout the movie, Malorie is faced with a series of obstacles and challenges as she tries to keep herself and the children alive. These challenges include finding food and shelter, avoiding dangerous people who have been driven mad by the unseen force, and most importantly, figuring out how to survive without the use of their sight.

The plot of “Bird Box” is filled with suspense and tension, as the audience is left wondering what the unseen force is and what its ultimate goal might be. The story is also driven by the relationship between Malorie and the two children, as she tries to protect them and teach them how to survive in a world that is seemingly devoid of hope.

Key plot points in the movie include Malorie’s discovery of a community of survivors who have found a way to live without seeing the mysterious force, and her eventual decision to risk everything to save the lives of the two children under her care.

The characters in “Bird Box” are integral to the success of the movie. At the center of the story is Malorie, played by Sandra Bullock, who is a reluctant hero tasked with protecting the children in her care. Malorie is a complex character who is haunted by a traumatic past, and her journey throughout the movie is one of self-discovery and redemption. Bullock’s performance is captivating and nuanced, and she is able to convey a wide range of emotions without ever showing her eyes.

Other key characters in the movie include Tom, played by Trevante Rhodes, who becomes Malorie’s ally and love interest in her quest for survival. The two share a deep connection and their relationship serves as a beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak world. John Malkovich’s character, Douglas, serves as the voice of reason in the group of survivors, often clashing with Malorie over the best course of action.

The children in the movie, named Boy and Girl, are also important characters who represent the future of humanity. Their innocence and vulnerability add to the emotional weight of the story, and their relationship with Malorie is a key driver of the plot.

One of the strengths of “Bird Box” is the way in which the characters are developed throughout the movie. We see Malorie go from a reluctant mother figure to a fierce protector, and the relationship between her and the children deepens over the course of the story. Tom also undergoes a transformation, from a carefree wanderer to a responsible leader who is willing to make sacrifices for the greater good.

Malorie Hayes (played by Sandra Bullock): Malorie is the film’s protagonist and a former artist who is now a single mother. She is fiercely protective of her two children and is determined to keep them safe in the dangerous world they find themselves in.
Tom (played by Trevante Rhodes): Tom is a fellow survivor who becomes a close ally and friend to Malorie. He is kind and caring, and often acts as a mediator between the other survivors.
Douglas (played by John Malkovich): Douglas is a surly and distrustful survivor who is often at odds with the other characters. He is highly critical of Malorie’s parenting skills and frequently clashes with Tom.
Olympia (played by Danielle Macdonald): Olympia is a pregnant survivor who forms a bond with Malorie. She is kind-hearted and optimistic, but her naivete often puts her in danger.

Symbolism is an important aspect of “Bird Box,” and the movie is filled with subtle references and metaphors that add to the depth of the story. Some examples of symbolism in the movie include:

The birds: The birds that Malorie carries with her throughout the movie represent hope and freedom. They are also a warning system, as they react to the presence of the unseen force.
The blindfolds: The blindfolds that Malorie and the others wear represent the importance of perception and how our perception of the world shapes our reality. They also serve as a metaphor for the need to trust our instincts and intuition.
The river: The river that Malorie and the children must navigate represents the journey of life, and the challenges and obstacles that we must overcome to reach our destination. It is also a symbol of rebirth and renewal, as the group is able to find safety and hope on the other side.
The creature: The unseen force that drives people to madness represents the unknown and the fear of the unknown. It is a reminder that sometimes the things we fear the most are the things that we cannot see or understand.
The house: The house where Malorie and the survivors take refuge represents the idea of home and the importance of community. It is a place of safety and comfort in a world that is chaotic and dangerous.

The themes explored in “Bird Box” are universal and speak to the human experience. Some of the key themes in the movie include:

Motherhood: The theme of motherhood is central to the story, as Malorie must learn to protect and care for the children in her care. The movie explores the complexities of motherhood, including the fear of failure and the lengths that mothers will go to protect their children.
Survival: The theme of survival is also central to the story, as the characters must navigate a dangerous and unpredictable world. The movie explores the human instinct to survive and the lengths that people will go to in order to protect themselves and those they love.
Fear: The movie examines the nature of fear and how it can both paralyze and motivate us. It also explores the idea of facing our fears and the strength that comes from confronting them.
Community: The theme of community is explored in the movie, as the survivors come together to protect one another and work towards a common goal. The movie emphasizes the importance of connection and support in times of crisis.
Perception: The movie examines the role that perception plays in shaping our reality and the importance of trusting our instincts and intuition. It also explores the idea that our perceptions of the world can be both limiting and liberating.

These themes, and others explored in the movie, make “Bird Box” a thought-provoking and engaging viewing experience.

The cinematography and direction of “Bird Box” are key elements that contribute to the movie’s overall impact. Here are some of the techniques and choices that were used to create the film’s visual style:

Lighting: The movie makes use of dark, moody lighting to create a sense of foreboding and tension. The lighting also helps to highlight the characters’ isolation and vulnerability.
Camera angles: The movie uses a variety of camera angles to create different moods and perspectives. For example, the use of close-ups on the characters’ faces helps to convey their emotions and inner turmoil, while wide shots of the landscape emphasize the characters’ isolation and the vastness of the world around them.
Color: The movie makes use of a muted color palette, with a focus on earthy tones and grays. This helps to create a sense of bleakness and hopelessness, while also highlighting the beauty and fragility of the natural world.

The reception and impact of “Bird Box” were significant, both in terms of critical acclaim and popular culture. Here are some key points to consider:

Critical and commercial reception: The movie received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its suspenseful atmosphere and strong performances, while others criticized its derivative plot and lack of originality. However, the movie was a massive commercial success, becoming one of Netflix’s most-watched original movies.
Impact on popular culture: “Bird Box” quickly became a cultural phenomenon, with fans creating memes, fan art, and even attempting the “Bird Box Challenge,” which involved performing everyday tasks while blindfolded. The movie’s popularity helped to establish Netflix as a major player in the movie industry.
Controversy surrounding mental health portrayal: The movie faced criticism from some mental health advocates who argued that its portrayal of mental illness was stigmatizing and inaccurate. Specifically, some critics took issue with the portrayal of the character Gary, who is depicted as having a mental illness and becomes a danger to the other characters.

“Bird Box” is a post-apocalyptic thriller movie that follows the story of Malorie Hayes, a single mother who is trying to survive in a world overrun by mysterious creatures that drive people to commit suicide if they look at them. The movie is told through a series of flashbacks that show how Malorie and a group of survivors managed to navigate this dangerous world and find a way to stay alive.

The movie begins with Malorie and her two children, Boy and Girl, embarking on a perilous journey down a river, blindfolded to avoid seeing the creatures that are responsible for the apocalypse. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn how Malorie and the others first encountered the creatures and how they banded together to try and survive.

Along the way, Malorie forms a bond with Tom, a fellow survivor who becomes her closest ally and confidant. However, their group is also forced to contend with Douglas, a surly and distrustful survivor who is often at odds with the others. As they struggle to survive in this dangerous world, tensions rise and alliances are tested.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the movie is the mystery surrounding the creatures themselves. We never get a clear view of what they look like, as anyone who sees them immediately goes insane and takes their own life. This creates a sense of tension and dread throughout the movie, as the characters are constantly on edge, never knowing when the creatures might appear.

As the movie progresses, we learn more about the characters and their motivations. Malorie is fiercely protective of her children and is determined to keep them safe, while Tom is kind and caring, often acting as a mediator between the other survivors. However, their group is also threatened by the arrival of a mysterious survivor named Gary, who initially appears friendly and helpful but is later revealed to be dangerous and unstable.

In the end, “Bird Box” is a gripping and suspenseful movie that explores themes of survival, sacrifice, and the lengths that people will go to protect those they love. While it may not provide all the answers, the movie keeps the audience engaged throughout and offers plenty of thrills and surprises along the way.

In conclusion, “Bird Box” is a thought-provoking and thrilling movie that explores the darkest aspects of the human psyche. Through its post-apocalyptic setting and mysterious creatures, the movie offers a unique and compelling look at survival, sacrifice, and the lengths that people will go to protect their loved ones.

The movie’s strong performances, particularly from Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, and John Malkovich, bring the characters to life and make them feel real and relatable. The use of flashbacks and nonlinear storytelling adds depth and complexity to the plot, while the cinematography and direction work together to create a sense of tension and dread throughout the movie.

While “Bird Box” may not answer all the questions it raises, it offers plenty of food for thought and has sparked interesting discussions about mental health, motherhood, and the human condition. The movie’s critical and commercial success is a testament to its impact on popular culture and its ability to captivate audiences.

In the end, “Bird Box” is a must-watch for fans of the thriller and horror genres, as well as anyone interested in exploring the complexities of the human psyche. With its compelling story, strong performances, and intriguing themes, it is a movie that will leave a lasting impression on viewers long after the credits roll.

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Early into “Bird Box Barcelona,” a set-up foretells the shallow test of fate the film will attempt. The workmanlike, passable Spanish-set sequel to the apocalyptic horror sci-fi flick “ Bird Box ” opens as Sebastián ( Mario Casas ) and his daughter Anna ( Alejandra Howard ) are celebrating her birthday by roller skating. Afterward, they’re jumped for their food by a blind trio of goons. Later, they encounter a group of scavengers who plead for help. Sebastián tells them he’s a former engineer and knows where there’s a generator. He just needs shelter for the night.

The group takes him in and mends his wounds. While sleeping in the comforts of a depot, someone hijacks the bus they’re slumbering in, exposing everyone to the open. If you’ve seen the first “Bird Box,” you know the deal: There are creatures that seem to live in the air, and when you look at them, they whisper your deepest desires to you so that you might die by suicide. The narrative now asks, “Is Sebastián the shepherd or the wolf?” While co-directors David Pastor and Àlex Pastor are intrigued by injecting religiosity into an apocalyptic narrative, their instincts lack flair or a point. This version feels like it’s trying to reengineer the prior film’s success without any of the originality.

"Bird Box Barcelona" takes inspiration from a tiny nugget from the first movie by Susanne Bier . Some people can look upon the creatures without later turning to self-harm. Instead, they’ve formed a kind of cult around the creatures. Seven months ago, Sebastián had a run-in with Barcelona’s version of that clan. It takes time before we learn exactly what happened. But in the meantime, we figure out the mythology that drives Sebastián: He believes these creatures are seraphs. Not only that, he gets a kick out of seeing the celestial orb that seems to float up to the heavens from the people who die.

Like many films, “Bird Box Barcelona” advertises itself as a narrative about grief, covering the subject in the blandest ways. Before long, Sebastián discovers another group, this time led by the British-Spaniard Claire ( Georgina Campbell ). She happens to be dressed in the same color scheme as Sandra Bullock in the first film, an all-too-on-the-nose attempt to recreate that magic. The primary figures among Claire’s companions are Octavia (an underused Diego Calva ), a lost German girl looking for her mother, Sofia ( Naila Schuberth ), and an elderly couple, Isabel ( Lola Dueñas ) and Roberto ( Gonzalo de Castro ). Nearly all of them have lost somebody, which makes them vulnerable when the creatures whisper in their ear with the voice of long-gone loved ones.

The script by the Pastors (with Josh Malerman's novel still an inspiration) skims the surface of grief. Their film says that the trauma wrought by grief might push you to lose your senses, decimate your logic, and maybe even make you go on a religious crusade. But that sense isn’t deeply felt in any of the characters. Instead, we’re given their base-level tragedy and not much else. Outside of Sebastián, are any of them religious? Do they blame God for what happened? The film is in such a rush to create a quick binary between Sebastián’s mission and this group of people that it doesn’t bother to get us to care about them.

It doesn’t help that much of the mystery and intrigue that accompanied the concept from the previous “Bird Box” evaporates here. Rather the primary goal is for these survivors to trace their way through Barcelona to a set of gondolas that’ll take them to Montjuic Castle, where there are rumors that survivors are hiding out. Sofia’s mom might even be among them.

Along the way, Sebastián must, of course, grapple with his faith. But that internal conflict lacks dramatic tension. The same can be said about the horror aspect. “Bird Box Barcelona” is cut with assured hands by editors Luis de la Madrid and Martí Roca and shot with a watchful eye by cinematographer Daniel Aranyó, but there’s a general dearth of shocks. That bite is even absent from the film’s final race to the gondolas, where Sebastián and the survivors must square off with the head of this doomsday cult. Its leader, a bearded man with a third eye branded on his hand, is so barely sketched he might as well be a figment of Sebastián’s mind.

There’s nothing inherently bad in the Pastors’ film. It’s competently made with the general sheen you expect from a bigger budget. You are, however, left scratching your head about what another sequel could bring that this one clearly couldn’t. No one in this cast is as dynamic as Bullock, nor is anything as tightly conceived as in the prior film. If seeing is believing, “Bird Box Barcelona” doesn’t have much to show.

On Netflix tomorrow, July 14th.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the New York Times , IndieWire , and Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the Los Angeles Times , and Rolling Stone about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

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