Maggie (2015)
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| Picture by http://amzn.to/20hsrHT |
Writer: John Scott 3
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Wade Vogel), Abigail Breslin (Maggie Vogel), Joely Richardson (Caroline), Douglas M. Griffin (Ray), J.D. Evermore (Holt), Rachel Whitman Groves (Bonnie), Jodie Moore (Dr. Kaplan), Bryce Romero (Trent), Raeden Greer (Allie), Aiden Flowers (Bobby), and Carsen Flowers (Molly).
The bad thing about the month of January is the extreme weather some states get during the winter. The holidays are over, but the weather hits hard, and fast in some areas, especially in the south, where there not capable to handle snow. Winter can be a pain in the butt, and in some states it destroys any plans you've made during the week, the reality of it all is simple, winter can suck at times. The beautiful snow is a sight to behold, but the cold and what it comes with can be a bit undesirable. The standard for cold weather is cold, snow, rain, a mix we hate, and love altogether. In my area the forecast called for snow, it came leaving behind around four inches. So we stayed inside, my daughter went out, played outside in the snow, the whole day was uneventful, stayed home away from the roads, because of the dangerous conditions. Enough talk about the snow, because as i write this, my hands are getting cold, really weird but, try writing about the cold, and i guess it's a mind thing, but your body gets a shiver, almost as if the cold is inside of your house was filled with snow, and the keys on your board was covered with freezing, cold snow. OK, i will stop, lets get to the review, shall we.
Maggie is the film i have always wanted to review, a simple plot, the characters aren't complex, no mixed story that racks your head. The film is low budget, despite Arnold Schwarzenegger being in it, a big actor like this can kill your budget, but I'am glad he played the father, Wade Vogel. The man had lost his wife, but re-married to Caroline (Joely Richardson), they have two children together, but Maggie is Caroline's stepdaughter. Maggie has a virus which deteriorates the body, almost as if she is manifesting into something that looks decayed. The city has quarantine zones, which holds the infected that more or less has the same problem as Maggie, the main difference is the stages of the virus, if the virus is in it's final stage, then the infected are brought to a doctor who gives the OK to bring them into the zone to die. The doctor gives the infected an injection that slowly kills the person, infected.
Wade made a promise to Maggie's mother, keep her safe, and watch over her, a promise that Wade will keep, but the cost of protecting her is big, because the surrounding locals will not have an infected in there areas. Law enforcement keeps a watchful eye on things, especially Wade Vogel's daughter, and her current situation.
The story is slow, it really doesn't bother me all that much, some folks will think differently, but not me, it wasn't the usual action that we're all use to in movies. With that being said, the story topped this film, it really hit me pretty hard. A father's love for his daughter, in a broken world, that is almost apocalyptic. The sad part about this little film is that Maggie falls deeper into a different state, as she begins the last stages before turning, she dreams of flesh eating humans. Maggie still continues to keep her humanity against all odds. The story takes you in the home of one family, and the way they handle the infected. A different side to the gory world of the zombie Apocalypse.
The acting was pretty good, not your academy award style film, the cries, tears were not forced, but were enough to entice the avid fan of this type of film. The scene where Caroline tries to convince Wade to bring Maggie to the quarantine zone was done well, they both interacted beautifully, and to me that makes a good film. I also liked the scene where the local law comes up to Wade's home, discusses the ramifications for keeping an infected at the house, especially the stage that Maggie was in, but the cops at first had some humanity about Maggie, and understandably so, because it is his daughter, and when it comes to family, Wade will do anything to protect her. The police in the movie was portrayed as folks who just want to help, and as the movie progressed and Maggie's symptoms reaches an unsettling level, then when local cops returned, things got a bit violent, but unlike Arnold films, no shoot outs, or a big fist to cuffs scenes, instead Wade was tackled by the one of the cops, and the violence started, but it ended quick, just enough to get your blood pumping. Arnold was a normal guy, like all normal people, he wasn't a super hero, or a bad ass ex-cop, he was a father that was emotional about his daughters state.
Maggie be, forewarned isn't for the zombie fan boys, because it's not the Walking Dead, the film holds it's own. I personally love this movie, because i have two daughters, and if this would happen to me, a very difficult situation, the human condition would be tested on all fronts. Family, Friends, situations that put you in a predicament, an unsolved challenge to say. The film delivers on all fronts, it's my kind of horror, Drama. Yes, i love the shoot outs,and all that comes from those types of films, but for Maggie, this film is good, it's not perfect but to me it achieved something that zombie films have not touched, the human condition. Till now the other zombie films always had the point of view of the group fighting the zombies, survival, almost like playing a survival horror game. The Maggie film had difficult, situations that seemed almost real, remember the way Wade Vogel handled the situations, they were real, his choices were extremely difficult, not saying that Rick's group in the Walking Dead doesn't make hard decisions, but in comparison, Wade was real, he worried about his own family, and to me it glorified the film's major point. Wade was no hero, but a father who loved his daughter, and would not kill her, but only if he had no alternative, then he would do the unthinkable, unlike Walking Dead where folks move on, travel city to city, Wade only wanted what was best for his family.
Maggie was that kinda movie, a story that brought you to a different place, the emotions in this film was the big deal, everything in this film was unsettling; A boyfriend that was infected, like Maggie had to go to the zone, a father making the decision to either give Maggie the injection that would cause her to die slowly or kill her without pain. The strength Maggie portrayed, her difficult battle to fight off the urges were incredible. Not going to argue what is better, Walking Dead or Maggie, i love both of these type of films have both unique qualities, and both are written well, and to me makes the world that both of them live in far more dangerous than we can handled. The worlds are different, people are stronger in the Walking Dead, they know how to kill, hunt, survival is their option, while in Maggie's world folks are settled in there ways, that the only thing they have to cling to is hope, a virus which is reaching higher levels, and the masses doesn't know how to deal with it. All in all Maggie was a great film, it was at least to me a picture of what can happen if a horrible virus hits are planet, and the very people that we all know is sucked away by not the virus, but the very thing God has given us, Humanity. The film deserves more, it was a powerful, well acted little film that should've gotten more than it received, and especially the main actors in this film, the connection they had was one of the high points of the film.
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