Bird Box finished off 2018 with a hit. The film from Netflix starring Sandra Bullock drove the internet into a frenzy, leading some to believe it was the best movie of the year and others to believe that it was overrated garbage. Now that some time has passed since the movie’s debut, we can take a moment to look back on whether or not this film is worth the watch everyone gave it.

     So, was Bird Box good or bad? Overall, it was a solid film. Senior Grace Muench said, “I thought it was decent and didn’t deserve some of the hate it got. The memes weren’t terrible, though. I actually thought they were more entertaining than the movie, but I liked the last scene where they tied the movie together in a cool way.” The concept of monsters that make you kill yourself when you look at them is a welcome breath of creativity in the horror genre. People claim that it’s just a rip off of A Quiet Place, taking a vital sense away from the characters and forcing them to survive. This isn’t fair to either of these films, which both executed their premises very well. The premise of Bird Box was probably the best thing about it. It even spawned an entire internet challenge of doing things blindfolded. The acting in this movie was also one of its best aspects, which is necessary for a character-driven story such as this one. Even the child actors weren’t as annoying as child actors tend to be. The structure of the plot, flipping between the survivors boating on the river and the events before, kept the film exciting at moments where it otherwise may have gotten a bit boring.

    Most people won’t deny that this was a good film, but was it a great film? I think that it missed out on a lot of potential enjoyment because some of the creator’s choices. The flipping between the river and the house was a welcome change of pace, but it basically gave away that only Sandra Bullock’s character and the children would survive. In a more character-driven film such as this one, it’s important that the audience cares about the people on screen. It’s hard to care about people you know will be dead before the end. An argument against this is that it’s about the journey that takes you to the end, rather than finding out what the ending will be. This can still be a valid way to interpret the movie, but it doesn’t take away from the lack of emotional weight. I didn’t feel like I was watching a good piece of cinema until a scene at the very end when Sandra Bullock made the decision that she wouldn’t sacrifice either of the children. There were emotional moments before that, but they didn’t hit because the audience knew the outcome.

    Despite some weird plot holes that only real nosy nit-pickers will notice or care about, this movie was still enjoyable and worth a watch for anyone who enjoys thrillers and horror, because it did the genre justice. The scares don’t come come from things jumping out of nowhere. They come from the atmosphere that the film creates. This is horror done right. Other films that do horror right are 28 Days Later, the most creative and entertaining zombie film out there, and The Ritual, another Netflix original horror movie that deserves just as much, if not more, praise as Bird Box.