Review: Carriers

The world has been overrun with a plague. Most of the human population is either dead or dying. A group of 4 are trying to make it to their childhood vacation spot for solace, but their cross country trek does not turn out to be easy. Finding gas, shelter, and protection from the sick and the paranoid proves much harder than they expected.

Carriers is another in a long line of mis-marketed movies. I feel like that is a sentence used far too often nowadays. Carriers promised to be a quick-paced thriller implying that their would actually be "carriers," as in a minority group of infected showing other signs other than death. Instead it is very much a psychological drama. Much of the fear stems from feelings of isolation, desperation, paranoia, and expendability (even in the eyes of your loved ones). These elements work effectively, but make for a much slower movie than expected. It is a bit of a chore to sit through the movie, which is not even that long. The gore factor is also very low; a few blood splattered face masks and rashes.

The acting is top notch though making for a more pleasurable viewing experience. Chris Pine continues being great after his breakout role in Star Trek, and Lou Taylor Pucci is a very promising up and comer. Piper Perabo and Christopher Meloni also give very memorable performances, maybe more so than the two male leads. There were also a few moments of humor, mainly from Pine's character trying to lighten the mood. These light scenes are unfortunately fleeting and lead to stryfe among the survivors.

The movie is very minimalist, relying on atmosphere and key performances all of which just fall short of par. The film is in no way poorly constructed, but the quality of storytelling is just not as high as one would hope.

6/10