By Bridget Kinross – Staff Reporter

The Netflix original movie “Bird Box” is a suspenseful story about a woman and her two children who have to make it across a dangerous river all while not being able to see or speak so they must keep their blindfolds on. There is a “darkness” that if they see, they will either be compelled to take their own life or try to convince others to take their lives. In this case, the mother (played by Sandra Bullock) was the only survivor out of all her friends and she managed to keep her two children safe and bring them all to safety across the river. This movie demonstrates courage and the importance of family. Throughout the movie, viewers will see themes of sacrifice, selfishness, and love.

One strong point of this movie was how suspenseful it was it kept the watchers wanting to know what happened next. The audience is never lost or bored which is a flaw in some movies. For example, at one point the characters had to drive blindfolded to get supplies and they almost got in an accident. Suspenseful scenes like this will leave viewers wanting a sequel right away.

The main characters change throughout the movie, which kept it interesting. Bullock plays the lead, Malorie, who is pregnant and gives birth during this crisis (and takes in another child of a deceased mother) and goes through five years of this to bring them all to safety. In the beginning of the movie, Malorie did not want to deal with adulthood and as she became a mother her only focus was to protect them and to put them first unlike her old selfishness. The audience gets to see her change and that storyline keeps people watching.

“Bird Box” is similar to “A Quiet Place” which was a film where the characters were not able to talk or an evil presence would take their life. It was similar to “Bird Box” in that if characters opened their eyes, the evil would take their lives.

“Bird Box” was produced very well with the many fight scenes and Bullock’s very convincing performance during the more intense scenes.  For example, Malorie had to go into an abandoned building to gather supplies and her children left the boat so she had to run around blindfolded trying to find them before the evil did. This scene and many others showed the actors and actresses ability to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars