Swing and a miss from Netflix

Rating: 4/10 (5 January 2019)

(Softcore spoilers..no major plot points/deaths)
Another Netflix original flop. Aside from a few good series Netflix batting % for original movies is not good enough for the majors..probably not even triple A ball. And it seems to me like they run into the same problem every time. A plot which turns a blind eye to it's Mariana Trench sized plot holes that only looks good in a 15 second Instagram trailer mixed with empty characters who seem to act without any rhyme or reason. They do what they do solely because the plot needs them to. Bird Box is no exception to this.
We'll start with what Bird Box did right because it'll take a lot less time. Despite everything wrong with this movie the one thing it has going for it is that you want to know what ends up happening. Despite all the plot holes, and random character action you truly are interested in seeing how Sandra Bullock ensures her children's safety and escapes these monsters. The problem is, however, despite wanting to see the end you can't help but point out how much this movie has no regard for reason or logic within it's own plot which ultimately ruins the entire movie.
To better explain what I'm trying to say, I'll draw a semi-controversial reference to A Quiet Place. I'm well aware that bird box is based on a book that came out before A Quiet Place so, please.....save it. In A Quiet Place (Which I personally liked) there were parts of the plot you could nitpick and say "I don't get why he would do this" or "why wouldn't they do this?" Or even "how come the monsters do this but not this?". For me I personally felt like a lot of these things (admittedly not all) boiled down to nitpicking. You could apply the why didn't x do y argument to almost any movie so I personally felt some people were hard on A Quiet Place. The difference here is that in Bird Box picking apart the plot can't be simplified as nitpicking, it can be justified as reasonable claims or questions the movie either has no regard for or doesn't care to explain.
For example, they decide to paint the car windows black so they can drive out for supplies using gps. A creative idea on the surface, but even the most casual movie goer is going to point out the roads were riddled with abandoned and exploded cars when they went into hiding. There's a zero percent chance you could make it down the road, let alone out of your driveway, without hitting a post apocalyptic road block of debris.
Another example is the blindfolded river rafting scene which is 50% of the reason why people watch the movie to begin with. This might be the biggest example of clickbait I've seen in movie history. I've been whitewater rafting on the lowest tier of rapids there are. 13 out of the 15 people in the group flipped (more than once) and nobody was blindfolded. You cannot convince me they're making it down that river. Somebody is going to have to take the blindfold off ultimately getting everyone killed.
Finally, the movie gives no explanation as to why some people can look at these creatures and not kill themselves. Some people get to roam freely in a state of madness, while others are compelled to immediately kill themselves.
This combined with a cast of characters who are not fleshed out and act without reason or motivation other than "the script told me to" ruins any chance of this movie being considered anything other than clickbait by Netflix.
A Swiss cheese plot, and a cast of wasted talent ruin another Netflix original. Even though you won't listen to me because this movie is going viral..save 2 hours of your time, watch something else. And when you ignore this and watch it anyway and get let down just remember I told you so.
4/10 stars and I'm being generous.