The Girl with All the Gifts

Before The Waking Dead came along, people thought the zombie subgenre was dead in the water. The zombie films for the most part just weren't able to capture the right tone and essence. So even though there's been a million of them and most of them are much of the same thing, I always appreciate the ones that bring something new and fresh to the genre. The Girl With All the Gifts does just that.

The British post-apocalyptic film takes place after most of the world has been decimated to due to an unknown fungal disease, with only a few military bases left. The twist here is that on this military base is a group of second generation children who are infected with the disease but are under control of their senses for the most part. That is, when they aren't smelling human flesh.

After several life threatening sequences, a few soldiers, a teacher, and one of those second generation children (named Melanie) embark on a trek to get to the next safe zone, with their base being overrun by zombies (or hungries as they call them). Melanie, a seemingly more intelligent and aware child, forms a special bond with the teacher, named Helen Justineau and played by Gemma Arterton. This is the one human connection that I think is worth caring about. Since you don't get much backstory on the soldiers, including one played well by Paddy Considine, you are almost forced into caring for the two. And that's the one thing I was constantly hoping we would get more of, character depth and backstory. It just becomes difficult to figure out who you're going to root for when you don't have much in way of their backstory to think about.

With that said, I appreciated that this film involved a different approach to the zombie genre. Yes, there is the subplot involving someone looking for a cure (which is always something that comes up) but the more calculated approach to the pacing, and reserved display of gore, The Girl With All the Gifts feels like a fresh entry into the genre. Heck, have we ever had our lead character be an second generation infected child? Just by those standards this was something original.

7.1/10

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

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

I've read the book and also the second "the boy on the bridge" and only found later that it was made into a motion picture. Having enjoyed the books so much I was curious to see whether the movie followed the same storyine, character descriptions, etc...

Having read the story first I was a bit disappointed with the film. The film is still great but you won't get the whole story in a film. It would have been better done if it was released as 10 episodes or something.

I'm still giving 7 stars as it was still good to watch.

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.