Review of Maggie (2015) by Eric H — 21 May 2015

In recent years, apocalyptic films and books have become very popular. The Walking Dead is one of the most popular television shows running currently. People are fascinated in the dystopian future stories. Even young people have become interested. Books like, The Hunger Games and Divergent have captured their imagination. "Maggie" is directed by Henry Hobson. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ara Keshishian.

The plot of the film is very simple. A young girl named Maggie has run away from her family. She is found in the city and brought to the hospital. Maggie has been bitten. William, her father, rushes to the hospital. The doctor informs him of her bite, and recommends they take her to quarantine after a few days. Returning to her home, Maggie shows signs of the disease worsening.

Over the corner of this film, nothing much occurs. Despite this, the film shows off two great performances. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't an Oscar worthy actor, let's face it. He is a really horrible actor. However, I'm pleasantly surprised to say he was great in this. Obviously, he still has that damned accent, but he really works around it. Honestly, he gave the best performance of his career. He was very controlled and gave off allot of emotion. Ara Keshishian-who plays Maggie in the film-also gives a good performance. This is the highlight of a mostly uninteresting movie.

The father daughter relationship is honestly the strongest element of the film. It's very believable, and frankly very touching. It's about a father watching his little girl succumb to the disease. She is slowly becoming a zombie.

Despite this emotional core, the film suffers from its extremely slow pace. It's attempting to build tension, and overall it somewhat succeeds. Endless scenes of people walking to and fro began to bore me. I will say despite the juvenile writing, and despite the slowness, the story was pretty unique. If I hadn't been as invested in the story as I was, I may have hated this film.

"Maggie" may have its touching moments, but it's noticeably slow. The film has a dragging pace and a not so great script. Nevertheless, strong performances and beautiful cinematography make this film bearable.