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Cargo Movie Review

Andy (Martin Freeman, The World's End, Faith No More's "I Started A Joke" video) leads his family through Australia during the zombie apocalypse. This is another Netflix original film (my girlfriend has been on a Netflix originals kick lately), and is sort of a different take on the zombie genre. Instead of seeing the beginning of the zombie outbreak, this film appears to be years into it. Andy, his wife, and his baby daughter are living on a boat house, and they really don't talk much about the outbreak that has seemingly left just a handful of people alive--this IS Australia though, and they are in the middle of nowhere, so this is an assumption. Anyway, this is just the way of life now for the living. The zombie turn rule is a little different too--once you are bitten, you do not turn completely until 48 hours later, and everybody has a watch to wear to countdown the time. Also, the transition sees the victim gradually turn, with their faces being covered by...something.

Gross

Cargo is some combination of the survivalist approach of The Walking Dead and the "people are the real bad guys" take we see from Romero films, with the overall atmosphere of Maggie (though it never comes close to matching that level of despair). Freeman does a fair job as the lead, but the remainder of the cast leaves a bit to be desired. There is a lot of baby crying in this one, so have the mute button ready. Speaking of the baby, the story eventually becomes about her and her future, which, no offense to any babies or parents of them reading this, I really couldn't care less about--you can't build character out of a baby, and if you don't care about the character, you can't care about the story surrounding it. The move runs a bit long at 105 minutes, and the end is disappointing--unless you somehow care about the baby. While not a bad movie, Cargo isn't one I recommend seeking out either. 

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

Cargo Movie Trailer