A tad overrated, but still a great movie

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2008)

"The Birds" is slightly overrated but still a really entertaining film.
**SPOILERS**
Trying to get a rare bird, Melanie Daniels, (Tippi Hedren) is shown up in a prank by Mitchell Brenner, (Rod Taylor) and tracks him to Bodega Bay, a small coastal community. Arriving there, they try to kindle a romance only for a series of strange series attacks by birds. Joined by his mother Lydia Brenner, (Jessica Tandy) and his younger sister Cathy, (Veronica Cartwright) for her birthday party, they get a chance to know each other better. After a couple more, even stranger attacks from the birds, they start to think that the birds are attacking the community. When they finally decide to launch a war against mankind, the remaining town-members fight back to save themselves and understand why they have begin acting like they are.
The Good News: This was a really good film with a lot to really like about it. The best feature is the idea of unending terror without a given reasoning behind how these birds got this way. This tends to make the understanding of this movie really dependent on viewer, and it works for the better because the audience doesn't really need to know that. Birds are attacking and killing people and, instead of worrying about what is causing it, the characters just need to worry about surviving. That allows for a dramatic increase in the terror, since the survival matters more and can pay out to better effect. This also has an added bonus factor in that the birds that attack the humans aren't birds of prey but rather an assortment of ordinary everyday birds. That's what makes the attacks all the more frightening, as a regular bird seen everyday instills more terror than those that aren't interacting with them on a daily basis. It gives off a realistic vibe that connects, making the randomness of the events that much more horrific. That the big reason for the film's success lies in it's superb attacks aren't all that odd either. Most notable is the entire diner sequence, where a long conversation about the impossibility of the event is broken when they start unleashing their assault. There's the scene inside a phone-booth where the film traps us within the confines of the booth whilst birds ram the glass to try and break in. You can feel the claustrophobia there as there is no escape until the attack subsides, and the ferocity of the birds to break in is explicitly shown in the repeated attempts to get in. It's a long, drawn-out scene with a lot more action than normal for such a scene, as it plays out in spectacular fashion and gets a lot of time to do so. Another attack that really works is the one on the school children. With every new shot of them climbing the frame outside, there are a few more birds waiting until the camera takes you outside to see that it's completely covered in birds. When they decide to take flight, the sheer amount of birds is simply awe-inspiring, and the relentless, remorseless attack is brutal and bloody, making that it's about school-children even more frightening. The pecking and scratching is seen there, and it delivers the shock required. The single best, though, is the final assault in the climax, where their ferociousness is seen first-hand in their unending attempt to get inside. Pecking through doors, crashing through windows, and trying to eat at exposed body parts with determination, it sells them wonderfully, and the second encounter is just simply brutal. This also starts the best possible way, where a single, weird coincidence gradually grows by leaps and bounds by each encounter, with the final one the best one. That's the way it should work, and help make this a spectacular entry.
The Bad News: This really doesn't have a whole lot, but there is a few problems. The biggest one is the general pacing, which is rather off. The romantic subplot takes up the first fifty minutes before any sort of prolonged attack occurs, leaving the first half really slow-going. That it also contains numerous scenes of talking that leads nowhere also takes up a lot of time. The most obvious ones, where the two girls discuss past dating history, and the girlfriend and mother discuss what happened before they even knew each other are just prime examples. The answers and topics aren't brought up again, and while cementing the relationships, they drag the film out needlessly. At the very least, they could've been trimmed substantially and still kept their overall intent intact. There's also some problems with the special effects, which are, for the most part, pretty bad. The live birds do fine, but are inserted into the scenes so haphazardly that it's so obvious it's a special effect that it takes you out of the scene. There's numerous shots too many to mention where the birds don't come off anywhere near realistically, even if the action itself is spectacular. These hamper the film the most, and are it's main weaknesses.
The Final Verdict: While it is overrated a tad, this is still a very enjoyable film that has a lot to offer for fans. Most of the nit-picks are easily avoidable and might not even make a dent in viewing, leaving this open to classic horror fans or those looking for a different kind of creature feature altogether.
Today's Rating-PG-13: Violence and children-in-danger