As a variation on hackneyed zombie fare, this vision of a dystopian near future starts out as a gripping horror thriller but somehow throws it all away in a silly third act.
With the same sense of dread as Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of The Children of Men and mid-eighties BBC nuclear war doco-drama Threads, this adaptation of M.R. Carey’s book certainly chills and ratchets up the tension.
The first forty minutes are utterly riveting. Without any sense of exposition or explanation, we find ourselves in an army base in southern England where gifted children are held prisoner, trussed-up and restrained like seemingly benign Midwich Cuckoos. Sharpest and smartest among them is Melanie (impressive newcomer Sennia Nanua), a 10-year-old with a genius IQ who is the favourite of conflicted behavioural psychologist and base teacher, Miss Justineau (Arterton).
The kids take lessons in the periodic table and Greek literature under the terrified and watchful eyes of heavily armed soldiers led by the cold and unflinching Sgt Parks (a very good Considine). They are cut off from the outside world where humanity has all but succumbed to a deadly virus which is turning everybody into "Hungries", fleet-footed zombies who feed on flesh.
As the second generation infected, the kids are being captured and used as guinea pigs by stony-faced Dr. Caldwell (Close), a terrified scientist who is committed to finding a cure using Mengele-like methods.
When the base is overrun by marauding Hungries. Sgt Parks, Justineau, Melanie (muzzled like an underage Hannibal Lecter) and Caldwell escape. This lurch from claustrophobic captivity into a ruined outside world provides the dark heart of the movie as the motley crew struggles to survive as they seek sanctuary, all the while beset by berserker Hungries who stalk the land. The action sequences are superb and The Girl With All The Gifts does not spare on the ultraviolence, all heightened by Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s deeply sinister score.
Making his feature debut, Peaky Blinders and Ripper Street director McCarthy brings all the dark satanic atmosphere of those shows to bear on his vision of a strange but beautiful ruined world. The film is full of striking images, not least the great city of London slowly being reclaimed by a new and deadly force of nature.
However, it all ends up like an extended episode of Stig of The Dump with garbled science. What starts out as a very effective and disturbing little thriller ends in a face palm of a third act that nearly negates all the excellent work of the first hour.
Alan Corr @corralan
