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The Girl With All The Gifts Movie Review
Girlish Charms?
Tripwire’s Contributing Writer James DC grabbed his bottle of perfume and his zombie protection kit and reviewed the big screen adaptation of MR Carey’s hit book The Girl With All The Gifts, directed by Colm McCarthy…
The Girl With All The Gifts
Director: Colm McCarthy
Stars : Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close
In cinemas 23 September
The screenplay for this zombie horror film was written by the acclaimed comic book writer and novelist Mike Carey (Lucifer, Hellblazer, The Unwritten, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Fellside, etc) who based it on his own celebrated 2014 novel of the same name. In this sense it has the same provenance as the more famous ‘The Walking Dead’, which itself has its roots in comic books, or comic book writers. It is the latest iteration of the well-worn zombie apocalypse scenario, but with some interesting and intelligent tweaks, angles and ideas, to go alongside the usual overly familiar tropes of said horror sub-genre. Ironically, it is a more ‘human’ take on the usual zombie stereotypes, and all the better for it.
The setting is a near future Britain in which most of the population have been infected and turned into the walking dead by a fungal virus, leaving only a few survivors who hold fast the remaining ramparts. However, there is a modicum of hope, in the form of a minority of children who are an odd human/zombie hybrid (and who seem entirely normal until they smell human scent, at which point they turn, Jekyll-like, into feral, flesh-eating monsters). These child hybrids may be the last ray of light in the ever-darkening twilight of the human race.
The children are kept in a secure base, and are educated by kindly teacher Miss Justineau (Gemma Arterton), experimented on by gruff biologist Dr.Caldwell (Glenn Close) and begrudgingly guarded by tough guy Sergeant Parks (Paddy Considine). We are first introduced to hyper-intelligent hybrid Melanie (played with confident aplomb by newcomer Sennia Nanua), who is the apple of Justineau’s eye. She and the other ‘pupils’ are strapped and restrained in their chairs, lest they come too close to human scent and give in to their baser desires during the day’s class; they are brought up to be nothing more than educated guinea pigs and Justineau is conflicted over such harsh measures and morally dubious aims.
But, later, Justineau’s loyalties are tested when the facility is overrun by full-on zombies, and the four main protagonists are forced to go on the run, along with a ragtag group. As they roam the desolate city ruins and deserted, rural spaces of Britain, they run into all sorts of dangers and troubles, constantly at risk from the roaming undead hordes. Melanie, after accidentally ‘turning’, and thus showing her true colours – albeit whilst defending the group from other zombies – becomes even more at risk of being turned into a lab rat by Caldwell, who seemingly is close to a cure for the zombie pathogen. However, Justineau still believes in Melanie’s better, human side, and along with unknown element Parks, this ethical tussle and physical fight over Melanie becomes the main crux of the plot, as the sheer survival of humanity comes into play, in the final stages. The bittersweet denouement involves a plant-like, evolutionary jump for both zombies and humans, alike.
There are some nice touches, here and there, on this journey, which mixes a rite of passage story with dystopian landscapes and blockbuster action. There are inventive visuals, a few great set pieces, some stylish action, and the odd philosophical aside to the proceedings, which all add up to an engaging new angle on the tired zombie clichés. The actors comport themselves well, with some poignant and emotionally involving scenes (Arterton being the one we most empathise with – all whilst looking absolutely fabulous, dahhling, in army trousers, baggy jumper and boots, with little or no make-up. She could wear a coal sack, almost from head to toe, and still look stunning and graceful!). It’s also nice to see a young girl, of mixed race origin, carrying large sections of the movie, in a fairly nuanced role – the fact that this is Nanua’s first major role is remarkable; she looks like an up-and-coming talent to watch. There are cool references to, and pleasant echoes of, the various film and TV versions of ‘The Day of the Triffids’ (with its similarly flora-driven, viral spores), as well as more recent Brit-zombie horrors like ’28 Days Later’ or Charlie Brooker’s TV series ‘Dead Set’, which are all good company for this latest stab at zombie mythology.
So what are the main texts and subtexts to be gleaned from this story? Firstly, there is an intergenerational conflict going on here. Then there is an ethical quagmire surrounding biological experimentation on humans (who obviously are proxies for animals in labs today, an evil practice which still goes on all around the globe, to mankind’s eternal shame). There is obviously a concern with evolutionary biology and mutation. Plus the ethical dilemma which Melanie endures, fighting her ‘evil’, animalistic side, in order to stay human, and the consequent moral ambivalence of the other characters towards her. There is the question of the ‘Other’ and the ‘outsider’ or ‘minority’, symbolic of race, disability, etc – which is a de rigueur metaphor for all zombie stories, so nothing new there, really.
What else? Well, to be honest, not much: unfortunately for any up and coming filmmakers like Colm McCarthy (who is a veteran of genre TV, with this, his second feature), any new version of the zombie sub-genre will constantly come up against the benchmark by which all others must now be judged: ‘The Walking Dead’ TV series (which has taken over from George A. Romero’s classic ‘Dead’ films, as the new vanguard). This long-form story is so complex, subtle, ingenious, stylish and intelligent, as well as being purely entertaining and compelling – in the best sense of a superior soap opera – that it behoves all others to come up with the goods, each and every time. But more often than not, each new zombie film is woefully lacking in most of the above, falling far short of any sense of genuine originality. (Another new zombie flick which backs up my general contention is about to be released: the Korean horror-thriller ‘Train to Busan’, which is so utterly cliché, ridiculous, inconsistent – in terms of all-important Internal Logic – and even schmaltzy, in places, that it rapidly becomes comical, idiotic, tedious. Some horror-geeks are claiming it to be some kind of horror ‘masterpiece’, but don’t believe the hype on this one. McCarthy and Carey’s film, with a far more serious undertone, is very much superior to that lightweight trash.)
The Girl with All the Gifts is better than most of the recent zombie films, but there is a leftover feeling that it could have been more radical and ingenious, pushing the boundaries of the sub-genre a bit further; it sometimes feels like it didn’t quite reach the potential goals of theme and meaning it was perhaps striving for. Whether this has anything to do with the basic premise of the novel it was adapted from, I can’t say, as I haven’t yet read it. Or it may simply be a case of ‘lost in translation’, as with so many films adapted from novels and other sources, even if it is by the same author.
However, to be fair, it is a lot more difficult to be purely inventive and fresh when having to limit oneself to a two hour movie, as opposed to the enviable length, and consequent depth, which a TV series facilitates. Plus, there sometimes is a lot to be gained from a short, sharp shock, over a shorter running time, and this film attains such heights, in some scenes.
Over all, despite a few flaws and a sense of over familiarity with zombies, as a whole, this is a fun, reasonably engaging, entertaining horror-romp, with just enough style, emotional substance and new ideas to make it worthwhile – especially if you are a rabid fan of the zombie film sub-genre.
JAMES DC
The Girl With All The Gifts is out in UK Cinemas now.
Why not watch our interview with MR Carey about his latest novel Fellside from earlier in the year here?
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