Enjoyable but could've been better

Rating: 6/10 (1 January 2019)

'Bird Box' is definitely not a revolutionary movie for the horror/apocalyptic genre. I agree with the comparisons made to 'A Quiet Place'. In fact, when watching I immediately thought it seemed like a combination of 'A Quiet Place' and 'It Follows', two of which have been two of the most successful and well-received horrors to be received in the last few years. Personally, I don't mind that the idea has taken inspiration or ideas from other movies (let's be realistic, there's no such thing as originality) and this movie definitely has a lot of redeeming qualities.
Sandra Bullock is fantastic (as she is in any role she takes on) as were the rest of the cast, including the children. The strong performances from all of the cast definitely made the story more engaging, because beyond the performances all of the characters were completely lacking in personality or substance. Unfortunately, this did make it hard to connect to the characters and their inevitable deaths had little impact.
The plot itself can be summed up in one brief sentence: in a post-apocalyptic world, a woman with two young children makes a dangerous journey across a river to find sanctuary from an invisible supernatural entity that when seen leads the person to kill themselves. There are little bits in between, but that is the basis of it. Despite the plot being simple and lacking in substance, the two-hour run managed to keep my attention. As mentioned, this is largely down to the fantastic performances, but credit also needs to be given to the crew that managed to build suspense throughout through use of clever camera work and good pacing.
Although 'Bird Box' has been labelled a horror, and there are some moments of horror they are very mild and when watching this definitely felt more like a post-apocalyptic thriller than a horror. For that reason, anyone that's looking for a true horror like 'A Quiet Place' is likely to be disappointed and underwhelmed.
The main issues that drag 'Bird Box' down from getting a 8 or even 9 star rating from me are the plot holes and lack of substance. Much like 'A Quiet Place' there is no explanation for HOW or WHY these entities came to be. Where did they come from? What are they? Why are they causing people to kill themselves? How do they operate? There are many other questions that I was left with that there is no explanation for. In addition, much of the plot is unbelievable and the journey Sandra Bullock's character goes on would be nearly impossible to undertake whilst blindfolded and alone with two young children. As for the lack of substance, the plot unravels in a rather predictable way, the deaths are also predictable and underwhelming, the characters lack personality/background and the ending feels somewhat rushed and anti-climatic.
Despite this there are many more redeeming qualities than bad and overall 'Bird Box' is an enjoyable viewing experience. There's an adequate amount of suspense and intrigue, but the second half does dip off a bit in this regard and begin to fall into a rather predictable narrative. Nonetheless, I would recommend thriller/horror fans to watch this, although if you're an avid horror fan looking for a true horror, this may not be right for you.