So many birds, so few answers...

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2008)

The first 45 or so minutes of "The Birds" (which is 2 hours long) is spent setting up an unusual plot about a woman named Melanie Daniels (played by Tippi Hedren) stalking a man she met in a pet shop named Mitch Brenner (played by Rod Taylor), supposedly out of playful romantic interest. She goes through a LOT of trouble to get in touch with this guy, whom she didn't really seem to get along with in the pet shop. How she suddenly fell in love with this guy or why she goes through so much trouble to do what she does is never explained.
But, then we get to see dive-bombing birds!
I don't necessarily mind a red herring plot, mind you. "Psycho" starts off as a story about an embezzler running away, but it takes a dramatic turn into uncharted territory as soon as our protagonist stops for the night at the Bates Motel. However, unlike in "Psycho," the red herring plot doesn't disappear in "The Birds" once the main plot begins. We see long discussions between Melanie and her newly found roommate (played by Suzanne Pleshette) about Mitch. We see heart-to-heart conversations between Mitch and Melanie. And, the relationship between Mitch and his mother has clear elements of the jealous, controlling relationship that Mrs. Bates has with her son Norman. Why all of this continues to happen throughout the movie, I have no idea. It's all interesting stuff, but it starts to feel like filler material after a while.
All of this, of course, occurs in between scenes of DIVE-BOMBING BIRDS!
Speaking of such birds, I did enjoy seeing them and the attack scenes. This is a movie that would look great and be pretty scary in 3-D. The one thing I loved the most about any of the attack scenes was the sound effects of the bird calls. The cacophony of bird calls, while seemingly innocent in real life, manages to make these birds seem ever more menacing in this film.
At the same time, though, I couldn't help but wonder what on earth possessed the birds to suddenly attack and in such massive numbers. Why did they keep on attacking? Why did their attacks seem way more intelligent than we know birds to be? Are they supernatural birds? Do they have some disease? Have they gone psycho? Are they under the control of Norman Bates' mother? In the beginning, there's something mentioned about dead chickens and bad birdseed. Does that have anything to do with the birds' behavior? None of this is ever answered.
I'm willing to put up with lack of explanation, as well, since I'm sure no explanation would probably satisfy me, given the behavior of the birds. But, then, the film never really finishes the story either. Right as the we're getting into the thick of the plot, the film is over. No resolution, no explanation, no real sense of "falling action" either. We reach the climax of the story and then we're done right away.
Now, I don't mind ambiguous endings. Sometimes, the best way to end the film is on an ambiguous note. But, with a red herring plot that continues throughout the film even after it is revealed to be a red herring, no explanation for the odd behavior of the birds, and no resolution to the main plot, I walked away from "The Birds" thinking that I had seen a script that had a good premise but had no idea where it wanted to go with it.
But, still, DIVE-BOMBING BIRDS! :)