We really should be out of ideas for zombie movies by now, right? First of all, it's not like zombies are that complex. They're undead and eat the living. That's about it. Sometimes they're fast. Sometimes they're slow. Sometimes they transform slowly. Sometimes remarkably fast. They can always be killed by headshots. Whenever there's an outbreak, the zombies win or at least take down society with them. There's a surprisingly strict set of rules. Secondly, market saturation for zombie movies was surpassed years ago with movies, TV shows, video games, and parodies. There's always room for quality though.
The Girl with All the Gifts is quality. I was lucky, because I got to come into the movie completely cold. I didn't even know it was a zombie movie (btw, if you didn't know that and read this, sorry-not-sorry). Even the idea of reforming or understanding the zombies that the film explores isn't all that new. Really, it's Sennia Nanua who makes it all work. If I didn't end up liking the kid so much, this would be pretty bland. Gemma Arterton, Glen Close, Paddy Considine, and Anthony Welsh are all fine. They just have pretty archetypal roles.
Director Colm
McCarthy (who cut his teeth on all the big British series) does a great
job shooting the zombie scenes. (I suppose his DP Simon Dennis deserves some of
that credit too) Scenes felt tense in all the ways they should without relying
on a lot of the cheap tricks to get a jump out of the audience.
Extra points for the really silly, kind of dark ending. I don't really know if it fits with the rest of the movie, but I don't particularly care.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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