![]() ![]() Tragedies in Sebastián's past become easily manipulated as we learn more about the character, displaying the volatility of human emotions and how easily they (and we) can be controlled. The religious tendency to hurriedly declare unknowns as glorious signs from above without assessing danger or reality is questioned: Leonardo Sbaraglia plays a clergyman seemingly serving Earth's new merciless overlords. ![]() This is a psychological thriller that doesn't thrill, but its themes are sound. Intended shock and awe withers, squeezing in these interludes from months past like padding that subtracts from the overall experience. Cuts between current events and exposition flashbacks become redundant at a point because we already know the outcome – we quickly suss out where these flashbacks will conclude. The Pastors take a gamble on the script's structure by subverting how horror movies typically attempt to keep audiences guessing, which is refreshing at first but tedious within a two-hour runtime. But in the long run, those traits hurt Bird Box Barcelona, which shapeshifts between a slasher as told from the inside (minus the cutthroat scares or whodunit mystery), and a father-daughter drama that seems to serve a contrasting science-fiction tone. Sebastián quickly asserts himself as a curious, then deeply complex leading character for reasons that won’t be divulged in this review. At its best, Bird Box Barcelona exploits humanity’s desire to trust thy neighbor by showing a billion ways untested faith can go abysmally wrong. ![]() Secrets stoke unease as survivors question a priest's devotion in the name of miracles or an outsider's claims to know where life-saving generators exist, and performances sustain interpersonal tension between shifty eyes or disbelieving hesitations. The Pastors indulge in societal breakdowns after floating Lovecraftian deathmongers become commonplace, putting more stress on character interactions. With Barbarian standout Georgina Campbell playing fellow survivor and English psychiatrist Claire and Babylon’s Diego Calva as brainy scientist Octavio, Bird Box Barcelona boasts a stellar ensemble. A continuation with standalone appeal, Bird Box Barcelona earns praise for distancing itself from the first film, but ultimately suffers as flimsier screenplay "logic" plagues a story too desperately focused on being different. It's a more supernatural examination of the nondescript entities eradicating Earth's population, digging deeper into cultist factions and religious parallels that refuse to recycle the original film's more straightforward survival tale. The Pastor brothers approach Bird Box like how Max Brooks' zombie novel World War Z tells individual tales of undead mayhem across the globe. No Sandra Bullock, no American backdrops, and almost no connection to Malerman's follow-up novel Malorie. Filmmakers David and Àlex Pastor take the series overseas in Bird Box Barcelona, less a direct sequel and more a simultaneous-yet-unconnected anthology chapter. ![]() That doesn't mean they get off scot-free, though - rather than killing themselves, they begin zealously worshiping the creatures and try to force other survivors to "look" at them and join the cause (or kill themselves, whichever).Netflix's adaptation of author Josh Malerman's post-apocalyptic novel Bird Box was a sensational hit for the platform in 2018 – which makes a sequel seem ridiculously overdue. We get hints that some of the people who can look at the creatures and not commit suicide suffered from mental illness before the monsters arrived (Gary mentions that he was institutionalized). However, before long, it's revealed that Gary is one of the few human beings out there who can survive after seeing the monsters. Sweet-natured Olympia (Danielle Macdonald) opens the door for him without consulting anyone else, and at first, it seems like Gary will be a fine addition to the crew (despite Douglas's very loud objections). Gary, played by Bohemian Rhapsody's Tom Hollander, arrives at the sprawling home where Malorie and the rest of the survivors are staying, banging at the door and begging to be let in. The only way Malorie and her fellow survivors are able to escape its influence is by making their way through the world blindfolded.īut then a surprising new threat emerges: homicidal people who are driven crazy by the creatures, but who somehow avoid those pesky suicidal urges. In Netflix's official summary of the film, the monster is referred to as "a mysterious force" that "decimates the world's population." The so-called entity does so by making whoever lays eyes on it commit suicide pretty much instantaneously in the most graphic way they can manage (caving their head in on the corner of a desk, walking in front of a dump truck, lighting themselves on fire, etc.). ![]()
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