Bird Box Barcelona review: A subpar sequel that wishes to be a bit too highbrow

2.5/5

Story:

After unravelling the 'mass suicide' pandemic in California, the focus shifts to Europe where the Spanish city of Barcelona finds its completely ravaged, pulled apart. The situation here remains the same as everywhere else: mysterious, invisible entities or creatures emerge from the ether and you see them, you kill yourself. Some people, though, are found immune to these suicidal impulses and are known as 'seers', who believe the sight of the creatures is actually beautiful and suited best for mankind. If you have watched the 2018 film, you'd identify seers are those who forcibly open the eyes of survivors, encouraging them to witness the beauty of it all.

Now imagine a scenario where a seer goes 'undercover' and infiltrates a group of survivors. Well, that's what Bird Box Barcelona tries to explore. 

Review:

If Susanne Bier's Bird Box was about resilience and tenacity, David and Álex Pastor's film is all about faith - faith in humanity and also faith in a higher power. Perhaps that is why Bird Box Barcelona, the second instalment of a potentially larger series, is best seen as a companion piece to the 2018 film because it serves as another integral element of a much bigger 'hyperlink' narrative. If Bird Box got us up to speed with how the bizarre tragedy unfolds, Bird Box Barcelona's gaze is way more personal and internalized. 

The film, in essence, is an anti-hero story. Sebastian (Mario Casas), once an affable engineer who had a loving wife, a daughter and near ideal life to go home to, now navigates the ruins of his home city of Barcelona in a lifeless manner. 'Desensitized' is what he is because the film begins as many as nine months after the creatures began their invasion and every sweep of the camera at present reveals that there's absolutely nothing worth living for. But he clings to hope, nevertheless, and so do these scattered groups of survivors who are all attempting to find that safe haven. Much of Sebastian's time is spent earning the trust of these groups so as to find himself some shelter and food, and also the much-needed solace of human company.

This is the David and Álex Pastor make their first bold move in attempting to subvert expectations. Sebastian is looking for survivors but not for obvious reasons and without getting into the specifics, we learn that he is one of those deceiving seers who is out to expose the remnants of civilization to the glorious truth of the afterlife. In fact, he is firm on the stance that what he is doing is a necessity and the reason explaining this all lies in the past. The Pastors then hand-hold us through a back-and-forth journey in time to unravel why Sebastian's motives are what they are - in Sebastian's eyes, he is not a zealot but a messiah and the film is largely dedicated to this distinction.

This is the David and Álex Pastor make their first bold move in attempting to subvert expectations. Sebastian is looking for survivors but not for obvious reasons and without getting into the specifics, we learn that he is one of those deceiving seers who is out to expose the remnants of civilization to the glorious truth of the afterlife. In fact, he is firm on the stance that what he is doing is a necessity and the reason explaining this all lies in the past. The Pastors then hand-hold us through a back-and-forth journey in time to unravel why Sebastian's motives are what they are - in Sebastian's eyes, he is not a zealot but a messiah and the film is largely dedicated to this distinction.

Tonally, Bird Box Barcelona is starkly different to Susanne Bier's film and the contrast lies in both the subject matter and the way it is brought to life. If Bird Box was set in suburban California, Bird Box Barcelona taps into the city's heritage and iconic architecture as its main setting. If the American iteration was more pragmatic and to the point, the Spanish film is imbued with romanticism and even does not shy away from declaring its biblical/religious inspirations.

But where the film falters is in never letting us in on this search or by not allowing us to ever make a connection with the rest of the characters. The narrative also brings up aspects such as social hierarchy, mental health and even a possible explanation for the makeup of the creature but none of this is properly fleshed out. Each aspect is used merely to dispense information about the World that Netflix is potentially attempting to build for further use and a lot of nuance is lost in this pursuit. Each character barring Sebastian feels like a tool for this and unlike the previous film, where the emotional investment of the viewer was valued, Bird Box Barcelona finds itself too damn occupied untying a high-brow concept.

Verdict:

The concluding moments of the film do strongly suggest that more to Bird Box, the idea, and Chris Morgan, the producer of the film, recently teased the idea of taking the narrative to different regions of the world. If Bird Box Barcelona is anything to go by, one would certainly wish for the makers to be a lot more courageous and inventive, instead of complicating things just for the sake of it. The film, which unveils a new dimension of this dystopia, has its merits but something very basic about it doesn't click with us. It has an intricate story, an alluring setting and all the other ingredients for the thrills but everything is found scattered.