Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Cargo' (2017)

Before you read the rest of this review I believe it's important to see the original short this movie is based on Cargo.

That short has everything needed for zombie survival. The struggle, the tension, the desperation. What lengths will you go to? The original short did more right in seven minutes than most Z movies do in an hour and a half.

So how does Cargo the feature length movie stack up? Not too shabby. They kept what was important and just filled in some blanks. It still has the struggle, the tensions, and the desperation, moreover it has the human elements that are so necessary post zombie apocalypse. You begin to wonder what lengths the main character will go to. And Martin Freeman does do a fantastic job of keeping you guessing. He really is a solid actor.

So the plot is smart and simplistic. The atmosphere is amazing. The acting fantastic; good even by Hollywood standards. The story does kinda fly off the rails, but for the most part it was done right.

I do recommend this movie, and believe me I'm not going to be recommending too many zombie movies for a long fucking time, so that's saying something.

SPOILERS!!!

Okay, so the biggest problem this movie had was an add on character that was really just there to drag the plot out. Often this was beyond logic or reason, even for a character written with her motivations. And frankly, after a point, her motivations aren't very clear. What I'm speaking of is this young girl, who I have dubbed, Deus Ex Thoomi. She's the reason the main character crashes his car, causing him to get bit by his wife. She's constantly getting herself into the damnedest situations, basically because she doesn't want to go home to her mother. She refuses to offer up any kind of safety to the main character's daughter until the bitter end when he's about to turn. Basically nothing in this movie would happen if it wasn't for her constantly faffing about.

But a lot of this shit doesn't make any sense. I can understand why she is hiding her father from her mother. Her mother is intending on killing him, because he's gone zombie. But why does she hide from her mother? She said her motivation was to find the clever man, so he could heal her dad with the traditional medicine. But the fucking guy she's talking about is literally hanging out with her mom! And why the fuck didn't she just send the main character to her mother when he tells her what he's trying to do?! I get that she's a young girl, but she's not a fucking monster. It's a little baby the main character is trying to save. So this young girl is so stubborn, stupid, and selfish, she has no problem likely causing the death of a little baby? The fuck?!

There were some amazing scenes with the main character considering some pretty morally dubious shit to save his daughter. For instance, he links up with a guy who controls a power supply of gas. This dude is using real humans as live bait for zombies, basically has a human sex slave, and is hording gas for control. But Martin's character is like, "I have 24 hours to find someone to take care of my little girl. This is as good as it gets."

I also like a lot of the symbolism in this movie. People who are turning into zombies are told to bury their head in the sand. This appears to be a metaphor for how Australians aren't addressing the way they're polluting and destroying their own country. Brilliant, really.

But I do recommend this movie and I do recommend you watch the short first.