Yes, I am including Breach (2020, also titled Anti-Life) in my zombie film reviews. WHY? Because, by today’s zombie film standards, this fits the model … well, not any worse than Billy Elliot.
Around the year 2242 A.D., Earth is facing an extinction level event. 300,000 survivors are selected to board a spaceship called the Ark (meanwhile 19 billion people are left behind for the big bye-bye). This ship will take them to a planet to be newly colonized, which will be called New Earth. Extinction level event, Ark, New Earth — yeah, I know, real inventive. Shortly into the multi-month trip, a saboteur releases something on board to kill off the crew and 300K passengers in hypersleep. This wormy slug thing kills people, infects them, and turns the dead in to reanimated (<– SEE, zombie film!) killer monsters.
I’ll stop there because I hate spoilers.
I picked up on Breach from folks talking about it online. Folks seemed to either love it or hate it. It’s sci-fi, Bruce Willis and Thomas Jane are the only recognizable stars — ehh — I had to watch it! So far as I could tell this was a moderately budgeted film (that flopped in the theaters, but it was released just as COVID-19 restrictions were being loosened) that takes you by surprise. It might not have been spectacular, but I thought it was pretty good. As zombie films go, understanding that it might be a zombie film … I’d give it a Yellow Puss rating.
This is what a dentist sees following Hallowe’en weekend…
I recently completed the audiobook by M.R. Carey, narrated by Finty Williams. Among other accomplishments M.R. “Mike” Carey is the current writer on Marvel’s X-Men. Finty Williams is an English actress and the daughter of Dame Judi Dench.
The basic premise of the story …
In the future humanity has all-but been wiped out by a fungus. This new and powerful spore turns the host — human beings — into mindless eating machines, referred to as “hungries”. When they are prompted to capture and consume some protein they can move at high speeds, without fatigue, and be deadly. When it comes to food … birds, cats, dogs, humans … anything will do.
Melanie is a 10 year old girl living a controlled life on a military base. She very smart, loves learning, and likes her teacher. When the base falls under attack, everything breaks down — Melanie, her teacher, a scientist, and a few military men are thrust into the wild.
And this is where I don’t say anything more to avoid giving spoilers.
All that said …
I thought the film was good. The book, so far as I could tell, had more going on in it — as books often do. I would say that the film did a great job of honoring the content and spirit of the story — making changes as needed to achieve the film. As I neared completion of the audiobook I reordered the film from my local library; it will be interesting to re-watch the film. Also, I have become aware that Carey wrote a second book in the series — a prequel titled “The Boy on the Bridge“.
If you take nothing else away from this commentary — take this …
The book and the film are one of those rare pieces that change everything for its genre — the bar has been raised!
Girl With All The Gifts crosses multiple genres — zombie, military fiction, drama, and even sci-fi. It gives story elements you do not expect. Carey has made a futuristic declining-apocalyptical setting that could support many more stories — and with any luck …. it will!
Okay, so if you’ve looked at at my blog at all — and if you haven’t I wouldn’t be surprised — you know that when it comes to movies, most of my thing is reviewing zombie films …. and occasionally movies that I think are important for musicians/artists to view. As much as I get a kick out of Z-films, I am as much or more of a fan of Sci-Fi. Kill Command
I got my hands on Kill Command by accident — call it a happy accident. When I go to my local library looking for films, I have a habit — I check the Sci-Fi section, followed by Action, then usually Westerns, and then whatever else. The organization at the library strikes me as weird sometimes when it comes to films — this was listed-as and filed-in Action … which it is an Action film but in my mind it’s Sci-Fi before that. Whatever … I watch every zombie film I can get my hands on, so of course — I took Kill Command home!
You know when you’ve watched all the recent movies … you feel like there’s nothing to see and you have nothing to do … and you pick up some film to relax with even though it doesn’t look very promising … and as you get into the flick you expected to be a potboiler and suddenly you’re faced with the reality that the film is pretty durn FANTASTIC? And then the more you watch you feel like you’ve discovered some secret film that your friends don’t know about because usually all you see is HolloWood or American films and pretty much miss everything that comes out of Europe. Yeah, if you’re a Sci-Fi fan, that’s Kill Command!
A glimpse into the near-future — placing your order at a fast-food joint…
KILL COMMAND, also known as IDENTIFY …
… takes you into a technologically advanced near future. The Harbinger Corporation supplies the military with warfare A.I. systems. A programming anomaly has been discovered at an undisclosed island — the Harbinger I Training Facility. A scientific specialist has been sent in with a team of six American marines — all of whom have been assigned to a two-day training mission.
As the night and following day unfolds, they discovery that the team has been inserted into a coup de grace where the intelligent and flawed combat machines have taken over the facility … and are beginning to attack the team … and learn their human combat tactics.
Trust me, these guys are worse than unannounced visits by door-to-door religious fanatics.
The film was released on 13 May 2016 in the United Kingdom and received a limited screening in the US on 25 November 2016, ultimately receiving mixed to positive reviews. Here’s the thing, my fellow ‘Murcians — there are a lot of films outside of the U.S. that we are unaware of. In the world of film, the American/HolloWood arena is the big player — and not everything outside of that arena makes it in* …. and a lot of it is good material, too! Maybe “Kill Command” wouldn’t have been a huge film on the U.S. scene, but with the right marketing I think it would have gone over well. Instead, you heard it here … for free …. because I love Sci-Fi. (*Did you see the 2001 film “The 51st State” staring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyleand Meat Loaf? I was in Glasgow when it was out. We drove by a theater that displayed a movie poster for a flick I had never heard of. I was told two things — there are a lot of films made in Europe and I will never see this one in America. For that reason alone I thought to go see it while I was there, but I ended up seeing The Lord Of The Rings instead sitting in the worst movie theater seat in all of Scotland. Fortunately, the film did make it to America as “Formula 51“.)
No red shirts on this guy!
You had me at “GIANT KILLER ROBOTS”
Kill Command has everything Action Sci-Fi fans LOVE! A futuristic setting, advanced technology, soldiers with cybernetic enhancements, things blowing up, lotsa guns going PEW PEW PEW, and GIANTKILLERROBOTS. There’s even a cyborg! Oh, and a super-cool weird-techy vehicle like this…
Yes, I am including Breach (2020, also titled Anti-Life) in my zombie film reviews. WHY? Because, by today’s zombie film standards, this fits the model … well, not any worse than Billy Elliot.
IMDb
Wikipedia
Rotten Tomatoes
I became aware of The Girl With All the Gifts from 
(*Did you see the 2001 film “
