Maggie ** (2015, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson) – Movie Review

Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoys a chance to do some proper acting and show his caring side as Wade Vogel, the dad of American Midwest teenager Maggie (Abigail Breslin), who becomes infected by an outbreak of a plague that turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. Surprisingly, playing against type as a protective father of a zombie child in a zombie apocalypse suits Arnie very nicely.

Wade’s friend Dr Vern Kaplan (Jodie Moore) releases Maggie from the quarantine wing of a hospital to spend her last days with loving Wade, who takes her back home and stays by Maggie’s side during her slow transformation to zombie up to the bitter end.

First-time Brit director Henry Hobson’s subtle and concerned horror movie proves a good movie for Schwarzenegger, though his fans will be baffled by the shortage of action and excitement in a low-budget ($4,500,000) film that’s a morose but thoughtful meditation on decay, sickness and death in the apocalypse.

Schwarzenegger and Breslin are excellent, they couldn’t have done it better. The too British Joely Richardson is awkwardly cast and hasn’t got much of a part anyway, but she fails to impress as Maggie’s scared stepmother Caroline, who asks Wade to take their little kids to her sister’s house to keep them safe.

I get why people admire this movie and Arnie’s gentle, appealing performance, though I miss the old Arnie – give me The Terminator any day.

The screenplay was featured in the 2011 Blacklist of the most liked unmade scripts of the year.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com