Maggie. Review on Maggie

A virus epidemic gradually transforms those who are infected into cannibalistic zombies. The best way to deal with the tainted is to place them in quarantine during the end stage, when the patients are a danger to everyone. A young girl is infected but nonetheless, her faithful father will not abandon her.

What's the first thing you'd think about when the words'zombie movie' and Arnold Schwarzenegger' are put together? Arnie using a Gatling cannon to mow down the undead by the truckload? A body count rivaling the number of cast and crew in the film? Nope and nope. Instead, Hobson holds back on the blood and gore and goes for something more nuanced, underpinned by an atmospheric musical score(David Wingo's compositions, sounding reminiscent of film score composer Cliff Martinez' work). And Arnold fires only one shotgun shell in the film!

Wade Vogel(Arnie, suitably weather-worn), his second wife Caroline(Richardson) and Maggie(Breslin) live on a farm in the Midwest. He gets the bad news one day that his daughter was infected with the'necroambulist virus' and now has her days numbered. Eventually, she will be placed in quarantine - essentially left to'turn'(completely lose one's humanity) and either die or be eaten alive by other patients who have also'turned'. In both instances, a horrible end awaits Maggie, and her dad won't see her suffering that. Maggie knows her life has permanently changed but she will doggedly hold on to her'real' self.

Lukas Ettlin's(The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Middle Men) cinematography is effective but at times, things can veer towards being a bit too gloomy. The film straddles a sort of middle ground between scary and family drama and it takes a look at the other side of a zombie film - the human side sans violence. Refreshingly, jump scares are diligently avoided too. Breslin's performance is both intense as well as moving. But most surprisingly, Maggie sees a rather interesting change of pace for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pulls off playing a caring, sensitive character pretty well indeed.