Cargo (2018)

Andy and Kay live in a zombie apocalypse situation in Australia with their baby daughter Rosie. They keep safe and live on a boat while scavenging supplies from other boats. One day, Anyd goes to a yacht and finds a treasure trove of canned food and even a bottle of wine. Behind a screen door, a zombie lurks, so he quietly leaves. His wife goes to the same yacht after reassurances that it was safe and she is bitten. Andy takes his family on a road trip to a rumored hospital, only to be bitten himself. His only goal now is to find a safe place for his daughter to grow up.

Cargo is a mixed bag of a movie. The zombie lore is unexpected and uniquely presented. The whole story starts well after the existence of zombies. Medical kits describing the disease can be found everywhere. It starts with fever and progresses through nausea, vomitting, and seizures. Symptoms start after 3 hours and expect to go full zombie after 48 hours. In the kit, a helpful diagram of the symptoms is provided along with a watch with a timer for 48 hours, a mouthguard, ziptie handcuffs, and a retractable spike to kill oneself before completely turning. The disease makes a goo the color and consistency of honey secrete from the eyes, mouth, nose, and any bleeding injuries. This aspect was especially disturbing and left more evidence of zombies movements around.

Some characters are well drawn. I especially like Kay. She knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to fight her husband when it truly mattered to her. Thoomi, an aboriginal girl, is my favorite character. Her seeing some humanity in the zombies gave a different perspective. Her people are the most successful fighting off the zombies, painting themselves white with a substance to make them undetectable, even though others (like Andy) dismiss them as ignorant hicks. The biggest problem I had with the film is Andy. I found him extremely unlikeable and the epitome of white male privilege. When Kay says she wants to decide when she dies, he completely ignores her and does what he wants. She doesn't want to kill or hurt her family and he When a racist man puts Thoomi in a cage and enslaves another woman, he is a such an apologist for the abhorrent behavior as if safety somehow makes it acceptable. I was not sorry when this guy died (which isn't a spoiler since he was bitten by a zombie) and I didn't really like following him throughout the film.

Cargo is an interesting film with a different take on the zombie apocalypse and an awful protagonist. It does some unexpected things like keeping the zombie out of frame when Kay was dragged away or focusing on baby Rosie when Andy was forced to kill his wife offscreen. These small touches really stayed with me and created an atmosphere where imagination came into play more to enhance the horror. Although Andy was literally the worst, the rest of the story turned out to be pretty decent. It's worth a watch.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins