It's about the Journey...not the destination

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2018)

This was great. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie that really pulled me in and held my attention. I love when I finally hit on a good movie, but it's frustrating because they are few and far between.
I have not read the book this is based on nor did I see The Quiet Place so I was in a position of being able to have an open mind when watching this film.
The main thing many people don't realize or seem to be able to accept is that movies based on books will NOT follow the book to the letter. It's just not possible to film a movie the same way a book is written. Often times the book is just simply an idea and only a basis - the movie could go off in a hundred different directions. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad film but it can cause dissatisfaction to those who have read the book. That dissatisfaction turns into a critique of the film and the two can't be judged the same. It's not fair to the film when someone goes into it with a closed mind. It just taints the experience.
I had an open mind so I took this movie for what it was. Sandra Bullock plays an artist who is basically one step away from being agoraphobic. When the movie starts she is heavily pregnant. Her sister (played by Sarah Paulson who was wasted in this role) brings groceries to Sandra and says that there is some weird thing happening overseas. People are committing suicide en masse and no one knows why. Sandra blows it off and says that it's not "here" so she doesn't need to worry about it. There is also talk about the man who got Sandra pregnant. He's no longer in the picture.
Next scene shows Sandra and Sarah at the doctor's office getting a sonogram. Sandra is very removed from her feelings and is ambivalent about her pregnancy. The doctor tells her that if she decides not to keep her baby she could opt to put it up for adoption.
Next scene shows Sandra & Sarah leaving the doctor's office. As they are walking out things start to get weird. A woman is violently smashing her head into a window. Sandra is struck with the realization that whatever was overseas is now taking place where they are.
Sandra gets in the car and tells Sarah to get going quickly. They head out but car crashes are happening and people are walking into traffic. Sarah starts driving erratically and Sandra is trying to stop her. Sarah crashes into a car and they flip over. When Sarah gets out of the car she walks in front of a bus and gets hit. After that it's mass chaos and Sandra is stunned from the accident and slightly in shock from seeing her sister die. Someone grabs Sandra and tells her she needs to keep moving. She stumbles along and keeps falling until finally a woman runs out of a house to help her. The woman starts to help her but then looks up and says, "Mom..." and then proceeds to get into a burning car and die.
A man (Trevante Rhodes who was great in this-his teeth are like chiclets they are so perfect and white AND his biceps had their own starring role in the film!) comes along to help Sandra and he leads her to the house the woman came from who was trying to help Sandra. After some initial resistance they are allowed to enter the house. The house belongs to B.D. Wong. John Malkovich is inside and his wife was the one who helped Sandra before dying-so he appears to despise her on sight.
We are introduced to a cast of characters who largely served as nothing more than a way to progress the story. They were picked off one by one and since we aren't given an opportunity to get invested in them we feel nothing when they die.
Sandra and Trevante form a bond almost immediately. They survive and continue on living for several years by making due with the resources available to them. They raise her son and a little girl who was left in her care after the Mom died shortly after giving birth (the Mom was one of the group of people who found her way into B.D. Wong's house. During her stay she asked Sandra to promise that she'd take care of her little girl should anything happen to her. Tom Hollander got to the room after she gave birth and ripped down the stuff covering the windows and she got exposed to the light without her blindfold and killed herself).
There is something in the atmosphere that causes people to commit suicide when they open their eyes. We never see these entities. They are more like a presence. Sandra, Trevante and the kids wear blindfolds when they go outside.
One day they hear a man over the walkie talkie asking if anyone is out there. Trevante answers against Sandra's better judgement. They find out there are survivors but they are about a two day trip away by boat.
Sandra, Trevante and the kids set out for the commune. Before they get too far a band of people who can somehow survive without blindfolds attempt to kill Sandra & company. Trevante tells Sandra to go on ahead with the kids while he tries to slow the group down. He tells her he will join them as soon as he can. Things go sideways and Trevante ends up dying. Now Sandra must go on the journey with the kids without Trevante.
For the rest of the movie we see Sandra and the kids as they are in the boat and also flashbacks of when they lived together in the house before Trevante died. The scenes are intense and keep you glued to the screen.
I won't go into the rest of the film because the ending doesn't matter. People don't seem to get it...the movie is not about the destination. It's about how Sandra was able to keep her family together until they got to the commune. You see her struggle and fall apart briefly but ultimately she pulls herself together to get her children to safety. Look at it like this...there are unseen dangers facing us every day. Even though we can't always see what can harm us it doesn't matter. We do what we can to survive (no matter what we encounter) so we can keep our family intact. This film showed that perfectly.
I think Sandra was great in this. I have liked her ever since Speed. Yes her face is starting to get a little too close to resembling a Dark Crystal character but she still looks fantastic.
The little boy did not have much expression throughout the film so I can't say he did a good job but the little girl was great. I sure hope they weren't scared of Sandra while they were filming because she did not seem to be handling them with "kid gloves".
This is not your typical Netflix drivel. This is more like a big screen film and I think it was very well done. The only issue I had that was out of left field and a bit contrived was when the doctor just so happened to be at the commune when they got there...um ok how?
MGK spoiler-he is on screen for about 5 minutes...has about 5 lines, a sex scene and then we never see him again. It could've been anybody in that role.
And finally here's a big spoiler for you...you do see what the creatures look like..they show you very plainly through Tom Hollander's drawings. It's called "paying close attention". It was all laid out on the table.
Sandra just say no to any further cosmetic enhancements but definitely say yes to more acting...you are beautiful and talented. Nice job.