Review: Maggie

by Trevor Kirkendall

★

The whole zombie thing is getting a little played out now. Yes, I am a fan of “The Walking Dead” but even that isn’t as zombie-centric as it once was. The creative minds behind that show can see it getting washed up and are trying to keep the series alive by hooking you into the characters. In film, you’re starting to see a move away from the whole post-apocalyptic landscape where people aren’t really sure what’s happening and struggling to survive. “Warm Bodies” and “Beth” are a couple examples. Now we can add Henry Hobson’s feature film directorial debut “Maggie” to that list. The film features an interesting premise, yet has no idea exactly what kind of film it wants to be.

Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) stars as the title character Maggie who is bitten by some kind of zombie while she’s run away from home. Or maybe she’s in school. It’s never really explained. In the universe presented to us, the process of becoming a zombie takes about eight weeks. The government has also been able to get a handle on the outbreak and forcing infected persons into quarantine right before they turn. This allows infected people the chance to go home and get their affairs in order. Maggie is brought back to her non-descript Midwestern farm by her father Wade (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Back home, Wade tries to make Maggie comfortable. His wife – and Maggie’s step-mom – Caroline (Joely Richardson) is a little apprehensive about having her there. Who could blame her? Maggie has gross wounds all on her body with bloodshot veins running down her arm and up her back. But Wade insists on keeping her there as long as he can. He doesn’t want to take her to quarantine when it’s time, and Maggie doesn’t want to go there either. So they hang out at the house waiting for the weeks to pass.

Just knowing the plot of the film should be a clue that this isn’t going to be a moving and uplifting film. It’s a dark and depressing story and everything about the film matches that tone. The dominate color on screen is gray, and it always looks like its about two minutes away from a torrential thunderstorm. The music matches the dark and unapologetic story. I guess what I’m trying to convey is that it’s really depressing and you never get a break from it.

Director Hobson is new to the world of feature films. Scan over his history on IMDb and you’ll notice that he’s done plenty of work as a main title designer in film, TV, and video games. (Including  the main title sequence to  – big shocker – “The Waking Dead.”) Not to be condescending here, but a feature film is centered on emotions that actors must convey to the audience. Title sequences do not. He must have missed that note because these characters are given absolutely nothing to work with.

Hobson seems much more interested in the tone and the visuals of the film than his characters and the story. You can make a great film that’s visually stunning but lacks plot, but your visual element must be the star of the film. Here, it just looks sloppy and ill conceived. Hobson and his cinematographer Lukas Ettlin are on the same page here with their love for close-ups and their overuse of the focus pull. Ettlin appears to use natural lighting in all his scenes like he’s Emmanuel Lubezki. The only problem with this tactic is every scene is shot with overcast and stormy skies so there’s very little light to work with. Did I mention these two love their close-up shots? Half the movie is shot right on top of the actors’ heads with handheld cameras and during drawn out dialogue exchanges. Back and forth and back and forth cutting between the actors. It’s boring and lacks the artistic qualities of more seasoned veterans. Or newcomers who know what they’re doing.

Schwarzenegger and Breslin are tiresome and play their characters about as flat and emotionless as the walls of a newly constructed home. You can never tell if you’re supposed to sympathize, empathize, or just be completely indifferent to them. I get Wade is supposed to be sad that his young daughter’s life is coming to a close, but why? He might as well have been a neighbor. There’s nothing in rookie writer John Scott 3’s script to give us any reason to feel sorry for the situation at hand other than the music and the tone letting us know this is a sad moment. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be sad for characters just because the script says I'm supposed to be. That's cheap and lazy.

There are very few redeeming qualities in “Maggie.” It’s a compelling concept, but it’s executed poorly. You don’t ever want to watch a movie and hope that the sick and dying girl dies, but that’s the exact emotion I was feeling with about 20 minutes remaining. Mostly so I could get back outside where it wasn’t quite as dark. It feels like Hobson, Scott, and Ettlin got together and decided to make a 95-minute movie about all the emotions running through Travis Coates’ head as he was about to shoot Old Yeller. But everyone hates that part, so why would you want to make an entire movie about that one moment?  The concept could probably work in more able hands. But with these filmmakers, "Maggie" dies a slow and agonizing death that would have been better left on the paper it was written.