Maggie

2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: Zombies have been all the craze for quite sometime with shows like "The Walking Dead" and films like "World War Z" dominating the box office. I've never been such a fan of the genre as something about the undead just hunting on human flesh never seemed appealing. In Henry Hobson's "Maggie," where he recruits Arnold Schwarzenegger and Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin as a father- daughter pair that spend the final days together before the young Maggie transforms into a zombie is one of the more compelling works on the genre seen yet.

Charismatic and truly very moving at times, it's surprising to see where debut screenwriter John Scott 3 brings this compassionate tale. We're introduced to Maggie as her father Wade, just after finds her after a two-week search. She's brought to their farm home where her step-mother Caroline (played by Joely Richardson) and her two younger siblings reside. As Maggie's transformation is sure to become erratic and certain, the entire family sits on the edge as their beloved daughter deals with not only her changing self, but addressing the surroundings of her friends and a future that is now to never be.

In his most reserved and accessible performances of his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger proves what happens when you work with some of the most talented people in the business for decades. You're surely to pick up some of their ticks and beats. Internalized as any performance seen by an actor, Schwarzenegger digs deep to show the soul of a broken man, helpless against a virus that is taking away his most precious gift. In addition, he fights for his daughter's right to live out her final days from the local authorities who believe she must go to quarantine, where the infected are put to death. It's a shocking display of emotion from the former governor of California in what will surely be a talking piece of many following a viewing.

Oscar-nominee Abigail Breslin truly is a talent. "Zombieland," which many will think of based on themes, kept her at an arm's distance in terms of allowing the environment to reveal itself through her actions. In other zombie films and TV shows, the ongoing theme and narrative is survival. "Maggie" takes it in a different direction. You see the deterioration of not just the person's body, but their hopes and dreams. Breslin displays the broken heart of a girl who sees her former boyfriend get taken away despite pleading with his father to stay just one more day. You see the realization of her new self in the behaviors she acquires along the way. And most importantly, and probably the most heartbreaking, is in the final interactions with her friends and in the truth of a future that will never come. Breslin shines like no other. It's happy to see her stretching her acting capabilities at this point in her career.

The technical traits of "Maggie" are spot on for the most part thanks to director Hobson. In his feature directorial debut, Hobson hones in on the tone of an emotional drama, not a horror film with something extra to offer. I think back to something like M. Night Shymalan's "The Sixth Sense" when the thrill factor was secondary to its story and characters. Hobson captures most of those things. Cinematographer Lukas Ettlin paints the canvas beautifully as we've seen in other efforts like "The Lincoln Lawyer" and TV's "Black Sails."

"Maggie" is a moving drama. Echoing the moods of hard-hitting films but with the charisma of any entertaining blockbuster you would see this summer. It's well worth every dollar of an admission ticket and is one of the more enthralling and captivating films of the spring.

Veteran star Arnold Schwarzenegger shows some real depth and emotion in this decent horror drama that stresses something not always seen in a zombie feature film: the human element. Arnold plays Wade Vogel, a farmer struggling to cope with a fairly apocalyptic future. Many people are succumbing to what the makers of this film call "Necroambulist Virus"; in other words, zombification. Among them is Wades' teen aged daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin). He is determined to spend all the quality time with her that he can, while she can still appreciate it.

"The turn" into a zombie is a slow and drawn out process in this narrative, written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson. It's painful for the loved ones of the victims to have to watch as the humanity steadily drains away. The story can be seen as a metaphor for any number of diseases, or even just the aging process itself. Ultimately, it's a yarn about learning to let go, which people like Wade find very hard to do. Some of his neighbors will go so far as to run contrary to common sense or the afflicted persons' best interests.

Suffice it to say, this is for people who want to see Arnold take on a different kind of challenge. It is nice, after all this time, to see him take more chances and grow as an actor. This isn't for fans who want to see him do bad ass things, which are few and far between. You don't even see very many zombies, or much gore, for that matter.

Set in the Midwest, but shot in Louisiana, this makes decent use of its locations, has a fine music score by David Wingo, and an appropriately drab picture quality.

Arnold does a creditable job as the star. Breslin does elicit quite a bit of sympathy. Joely Richardson rounds out the trio of Hollywood names as Wades' second wife, who is able to accept things that Wade cannot.

Arnold was also one of the many producers on this thing.

Seven out of 10.

'MAGGIE': Four Stars (Out of Five)

An indie zombie flick, made on a budget of just $4 million, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin! It was directed by first time feature filmmaker Henry Hobson and written by first time feature film writer John Scott 3. The movie is actually more of a dramatic character study, than an action or horror film, dealing with the relationship between a teenage girl, in the Midwest, and her loving father. The catch is that the girl is infected with a deadly zombie virus. It's definitely not the type of movie that a lot of Schwarzenegger fans are expecting, but I really liked it.

The story is set in a small Midwest town, where a virus, called the necroambulist virus, has broken out. It slowly turns it's victims into zombies and the government deals with the problem by throwing 'the infected' into isolation wards. Maggie (Breslin) is a young teenage girl, who was recently infected by the disease. Her father, Wade (Schwarzenegger), must do his best to care for her, in her last days, and also come to terms with what must be done, when she finally changes.

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect, going into this movie. The premise, and idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in a low-budget zombie drama flick, were both very intriguing to me. I am a little disappointed it doesn't have more action, and gruesome thrills, but it is a very well made drama film. Arnold gives, arguably, his best performance to date, and Breslin is pretty impressive as well. I wish there would have been a little more to the story, than just another drama flick about a terminally ill teen, and her relationship with her friends and family. It's almost like a zombie version of 'MY SISTER'S KEEPER' or 'THE FAULT IN OUR STARS', except with a little Schwarzenegger thrown in as well. I think he's making a lot of wise career choices lately, and he's starting to resemble Clint Eastwood, more and more, with each movie. This isn't a great film but it is a nice entry in Arnold's impressively expanding resume.

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This is in many ways a good, strange and different film, it is a zombie film, but not in the way you would expect, this is a drama about a dad finding and taking care of his daughter in her last days of an illness. The illness being she is turning into a zombie after she got bit and everything is treated in this film as it is just a terminal disease, there is no cure, there is a time frame, there is some signs to what is happening, but in the end you can't survive it.

It is a slow moving drama and really is the storyline and the characters and their interactions that is the film, we are talking a time frame of a week or so and we mainly follow Maggie and her dad and how they try to spend their last days together. We are slowly but steadily introduced to the plague that have been turning people into zombies and how people with the disease are being treated and eventually put away, because there is no cure, if you are bit, there are only three ways of going on, go to the camps where the rest of the zombies are kept, get some kind of shot that will kill you in a excruciating way or take the life of yourself by shooting, breaking your neck or other means.

It is a heartfelt movie that you really can't stop watching even though the story moves slowly ahead and it is not like any other zombie movie, it is insightful and interesting and really shows some aspects of life that has nothing to do with becoming a zombie, it could have been about any other terminal illness that can't be cured, but the zombie part is just a great twist to it all.

I was entertained and thoughtful after seeing it, it was really something other then I had expected.

First off I just want to say that this is my first review of any film. I attended the world premiere of Maggie last night at the Tribeca Film Festival and I am also a huge Arnold fan. It was great seeing him perform in a different (dramatic) role.

The cinematography in this film was absolutely stunning. From the location setting, the small town, old house; it was all well put together. I thought the cast was great and Arnold did a great job in his role but this film was focused on Abigail Breslin. And she stole the show. She outperformed the rest of the cast and made each viewer connected to her character very closely. Abigail had many scenes alone in this film and without giving too much away, there were times you can feel her pain and sort of understand what she was experiencing as the film progressed.

Maggie really shed new light to the zombie genre because it showed intimately how a family member was deeply affected by an outbreak. A father and daughter bond filled with love and courage and the chemistry played on screen between Arnold and Abigail was fantastic. Each character showed great passion throughout the film and it was well directed by Henry Hobson, his directorial debut.

I recommend this film to viewers who are interested in character development, great cinematography, a well written script, and a solid meaningful ending. Please don't come into this movie expecting The Walking Dead/ Zombieland type of action film because this isn't it. Hopefully Arnold will take on more of these roles in the future and from what we saw in Maggie, Abigail has a great career ahead of her. 9/10