The Girl with All the Gifts

Excellent performances and interesting source material (MR Carey adapting his own novel), plus imaginative direction (Scottish director Colm McCarthy), create a chilling sci-fi tale of hungries (zombies) versus humanity.

The opening sequence sets the tone. Melanie, a young, polite, and courteous girl manacles herself into a wheel chair. She seems entirely innocent and harmless, yet her captors fear otherwise. She and other children, each similarly restrained, are given an armed escort to a classroom. It's an arresting start and it grabs our attention. Sennia Nanua plays Melanie and the story revolves around her. We watch society collapsing through her eyes, see her threatened by the human beings around her, and fear for her. We watch her do terrible things, and yet we root for her. Everything is uncertain. Nothing is as it seems. It's a brilliant performance from a new talent, and it serves the film perfectly.

Melanie is surrounded by contrasting emotions from those nearest to her. Gemma Arterton is excellent as protective and caring psychologist/teacher Helen Justineau, fiercely defending Melanie against the machinations of Dr Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close) who sees Melanie as a specimen to be dissected. Paddy Considine convinces as Sergeant Eddie Parks, a tough, no- nonsense soldier fighting a losing battle.

Colm McCarthy brings this all together superbly, belying the film's modest budget. Striking visuals and frenetic action are never allowed to overwhelm the characters, who take centre stage. And at it's heart is Melanie. Confusing, ambivalent, terrifying, lovable Melanie. It's a wonderful turn from Sennia Nanua.

Highly recommended, and vastly superior to most of the genre.

Let me say first that I am not a fan of zombie movies. Since George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", most have been derivative. There have been some better than others (so I've been told) but none that really stand out from the pack. I think, though, that "The Girl with All the GIfts" is one that does stand out in this genre. I read about it and decided to take a chance on it...I figured if I didn't like it that I would just fast forward it and be done with it in about 15 minutes. So I took it out from my local library. Well, I got hooked from the beginning. I would recommend that if you want an interesting, unexpectedly well done movie then give this movie a chance

As a prolific reviewer, you tend to often discuss a film in terms of traditional arcs, and riffs off those same arcs.

Which is why it is always a treat when a film comes along that throws the script template out the window and forges its own path.

This is such a film. It reminded me of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN 1957, the first legitimate A-list sci-fi that, like this film, started off in what seemed a traditional manner -- and then went down a plot superhiway that no one had ever seen before.

It is not a perfect film. It has some flaws. For example, the first 30 minutes are better (more impact, more empathy, more entertaining) than the last 60 minutes. Which is not to suggest that the last hour is bad, merely that the first half-hour is drop-dead stunning and unforgettable.

And the director often seems confused about who the real star is? Ditto for the PR dept of the studio. If you check the IMDb reference, you will see that the young girl so brilliantly played by Sennia Nanua is given billing lower down on the cast list. That's an error. Sennia IS the film -- she practically picks it up and carries it to the finish line. The scenes without her are weak, the scenes with her are wonderful.

Nice iteration of a "really smart" zombie film. Recommended.

Okay, this is probably going to be one of those 'I just saw the movie recently so my opinion is still ridiculously over-inflated' sort of write-ups, so please bear that in mind.

Several years ago, I quit playing videogames but one of the last games that I played was The Last of Us which was an especially impressive post-apocalyptic zombie survival title. As far as gameplay went, it was actually repetitive and boring, but what was great about this particular game, was the heart-warming story and the wonderfully rich environment it created. Most people who played this game all came out of it with the same conclusion, "This would make a killer movie." This brought up all of the implications that its film adaptation would certainly end up sucking due to the infamous 'Game to Film' adaptation curse. If you are not familiar, this is the belief, argued by some, that no videogame has been successfully adapted to the screen and resulted in a great film, or at least a commonly acknowledged great film. Ever. Though this film will technically not count, The Girl with All the Gifts borrows a lot of stylistic elements from that game and owes it a great debt but, in the end, it is its own film and I must say, an exceptional one.

I am not going to go into any detail about this one yet because I know a lot of you will not have seen it. I went into it blind and I think that doing likewise will add to the experience for everyone. I will say it has some wonderful performances and looks every bit as beautiful as the game I mentioned above. This is top shelf storytelling with painfully gorgeous climax and while watching The Girl with All the Gifts, I was struggling to find anything to compare it to. It is certainly my favorite zombie film made this year, even surpassing the way above averageTrain to Busan . I would have to go back to 28 Days Later to find anything to rival it but I think I might like this even more than that game changer. So then what? Romero's original films? It seems a little unfair to compare it to the genesis of the genre but that is where I'd have to look. Is this the best zombie movie I've ever seen then? I dunno. It is definitely the coolest.

In my opinion, if you want zombies done right, you go to the English apparently.

28 Days Later/Shaun of the Dead/ The Girl with All the Gifts

they are positively shaming the rest of us

... from the U. K., directed by Colm McCarthy. After an alien fungus has decimated the Earth's population, transforming anyone not an infant into a mindless zombie-like creature with a taste for human flesh, a contingent of British soldiers and scientists are hard at work trying to find a cure. Their hope lies with a group of children, all of whom were infected as infants, and who have grown up without the usual zombie-like symptoms. They appear and act normally, but they still can be overcome by a taste for living flesh that turns them violently animalistic. When the base falls to overwhelming numbers of the infected, a small group consisting of the most accomplished girl from the ranks of the children (Sennia Nanua), a sympathetic teacher (Gemma Arterton), a gruff sergeant (Paddy Considine), a new recruit soldier (Fisayo Akinade), and the coldly calculating head scientist (Glenn Close) head into the ruins of London to search and rescue.

I'm always surprised when filmmakers can find something new to do with a zombie movie, and they've done it again here. Newcomer Nanua is terrific as the precocious infected girl who is happy to be in the outside world for the first time, little realizing the destruction all around her. Arterton, Considine and Close are all fine, as expected. I know most viewers are burned out on zombie flicks (and TV series), but this one is worth a look.