Maggie

Maggie

Starring Abigail Breslin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joely Richardson, Bryce Romero

Directed by Henry Hobson

The Story:
A virus has overtaken America, turning people into flesh-eating monsters.  No one knows the cause or the cure, but once you're bit, it's only a matter of time before you go.

Young Maggie Vogel (Abigail Breslin) gets bit, and her father Wade (Arnold Schwarzenegger) takes her home to take care of her for her final weeks on earth.   As the days progress, Maggie gets worse, and Wade slowly comes to the realization that he has only three choices: take her to quarantine, give her a sedative that will end her life (albeit very painfully), or end it quickly.  Or there is always the fourth option.

The Synopsis:
I am a huge zombie fan, probably to the point of fanatical.  I spend time thinking what would happen if a zombie apocalypse happens.  I look at places and think those would be good spots to hole up in the event of such an event.  I love the zombie movies and especially "The Walking Dead," no matter how much other people don't like it, it doesn't bother me.

With "Maggie," the zombie genre takes a turn.  Instead of focusing on hoards of undead making their way through an apocalyptic world, this zombie movie is still centered in a sense of reality.  There's still electricity.  The radio works.  Cars drive by, and cops patrol the streets.  It's like modern times, with the exception of the virus.  It takes a global epidemic and centers it to just three main characters.

For Abigail Breslin, this is her second zombie film, the first being the infectiously hilarious "Zombieland," which is more toward the classic zombie feature than this one.  For this film, she isn't fighting the infected, she's fighting the infection.  Maggie is an average teenage girl who is struggling with a life-ending disease, just like millions of people face in real life.  The only thing is that once it takes her life, it takes over her body as well.  Her slow deterioration toward death is spell-binding, with amazing makeup effects for such a small budget. 

For Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is his first travel into the world of zombies, and it's not the zombie film you'd expect to see him in.  With a name like Arnold, you'd expect him to be out on the streets, guns loaded, barreling through horde after horde of the undead.  Instead, he's a doting father, tending to his daughter's debilitating disease that he knows will eventually take her life.  He struggles with the options, because none seem good to him.  He'd rather have his daughter well, but he knows deep down that will not happen.  He's instructed to send her to quarantine, but he knows that's not as adequate a solution as they say.  So it's either keep her somewhat alive, or end it himself.  For Schwarzenegger, this is his lowest budget movie ever, and the one where he is most subdued.  He's not an action hero, or a time-traveling cyborg, or a demon-fighting superhero - he's just a dad struggling with an impossible decision.

This raises a question hardly asked in zombie movies.  If your loved one became a zombie, could you put them down?  No one can adequately answer that question until it happens, and, let's face it, it probably will never happen.

Still, "Maggie" is more of a dramatic work along the lines of "The Fault in Our Stars" as opposed to "World War Z," and, even though the film drags on a bit, it's the talent of its two main stars that keeps you glued to the screen.

The Summary:
While it has some flaws, and sometimes drags, "Maggie" gives a fresh look at the zombie genre, propelled by the talent of the two main leads.

The Score: B+