LOTS of potholes and unanswered questions.

Rating: 4/10 (24 December 2018)

If it wasn't for Sandra's acting, I would have DNFed. I should also mention I didn't read the book (I know the book was written before The Happening came out, so I don't think it plagiarized anything like some people are suggesting.)
But I didn't read the book (I have no desire too now after this movie) but maybe some of these questions were answered there, and Netflix dropped the ball.
I'll start with the good first.
-Sandra's acting. As always she proves her craft is top notch.
The first 15 minutes of the film was action packed and had me on the edge of my seat. Everything from the fear of watching people go crazy, to meeting the other characters and them taking up shelter in the home, it all was on point.
-The symbolism of the ending.
What I did NOT like:

SO. MANY. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. Lord, where do I begin?

Felix and the female cop. What happened to them? (In my mind they became the people in the cars) but there is nothing to support that, so it's just my own mind trying to make sense of it.

To be honest, they should have just killed those two off, but instead, they randomly stole the car and left? Why? What was the purpose? The only thing I can think is that they needed them to either be gone (in which case, kill them) Or to take the car so when the other dude gets trapped in the garage he can't escape (BUT if that was the case, why not just, you know...NOT give him access to the keys?) Plus why would he take the car when the danger is outside? There were plenty of ways get around that.

The river. But before I get to that, I should note My husband HATED this movie because he just didn't understand how someone could ever navigate a river and continue heading in direction if they were blindfolded. He also hated that there was no explanation for anything. Like it made him so mad he couldn't enjoy the rest of the movie.

MY argument to him was that blind people can navigate the world, and after five years of essentially being blind, she acclimated.
However, the river WAS a little over the top in terms of believe ability.

We never get an answer as to why this is happening in the first place. Which, normally I can wrap my head around (sometimes stuff just happens as such is life.) But this was...I don't know. Lazy?

I mean, I wasn't looking for some ten-minute deep, profound explanation...in fact, I enjoy movies and books that give me the freedom to form my own opinion and don't spell every little thing out for me, but this was too much.
I just needed a little something to make sense of it all, but I was never given one.
-Why are some people dying but others aren't? Aside from the obvious (blind people), I don't understand why most were dying, but others weren't.
MY guess, in the beginning, was that Sandra's character didn't die because she was pregnant (and babies can't see) so somehow the life-form she was carrying was protecting her.
BUT again, that was just ME filling in the blanks for that character.
It was NEVER discussed why some people weren't dying when they were exposed. I know it's because we needed more bad guys to kill the good guys to create conflict etc, but again, a little explanation would have been nice.
-The chemistry/ romance between Tom and Sandra. *sigh* I didn't feel the romance/ love between them. Like I thought they made GREAT friends, but there wasn't a romantic spark between them. I wouldn't care because this wasn't a romance, but the consequence down the line was that when Tom ended up dying, the emotional element wasn't there for me. (I felt for the children though.) Even though, again, I know it wasn't a romance, I personally wish there was another was another scene between them, something that made me see their romantic connection (not even sex) just...I don't know...something. For the sake of character development. Heck, I felt more of a connection between Sandra when she was drinking in the kitchen with that guy than I did with her and Tom.
I guess what I'm saying is, I just wished they would have remained friends because the romance aspect felt forced.

Same issues with her chemistry with Olivia. The little girl (Olivia's daughter) played a bigger role than the biological son did, and we're meant to believe that Sandra's loyalty to this girl is because she was "so close" with her mother. (think woman raising her best friend's child after she died kind of relationship.)

But the both of them being pregnant and giving birth at the same time wasn't enough for me to believe they had enough of a connection for Sandra's character to finally name the girl and declare, "After the sweetest woman I've ever known."
Say what, now???? The dumbest woman maybe, because she let that guy in the house which led to her death and the other housemates. But I digress.
That said, there was a scene with the little girl in the river that made me tear up (I actually added another star because of it.) It was the scene where Sandra announced that one of them were going to have to open their eyes and look in order to tell her what direction to head in. Her little boy volunteered twice but each time she said, "I will decide who it is." And the little girl...man, she just knew. It broke my heart.
-I was also waiting for something super traumatic or intense to happen during the river scene or the forest scene after. Like my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready for the big showdown to freedom. But...there wasn't much of one.
I honestly thought she was going to have to gouge one the children's eyes out or even her own eyes out in the forest in order to save them, but alas. Nope. It was a fairly quick scene (just some voices) before they found safety at the blind school. (That part was brilliant.)
In short, It started off as a dystopian/apocalyptic thriller with some serious potential, but ended up becoming this strange, I guess....inspirational journey? That wasn't really all that inspirational.
If I had paid money to see this film in a theater, I would have felt ripped off.