Cargo Review

Cargo follows one man that aims to protect his daughter across a hostile Australian outback during a plague outbreak. The creatures that now roam the country are essentially zombies and when a series of bad events take place, his time to find safety is limited. It carries a slow pace that allows for more impactful moments at it really does tie off all points. It should have maybe left some things to wonder, but there are really no more questions after watching it all. There was a good balance of gritty moments and mishaps as so many events take place over a short period of time.

The rules of the infection are well established and that's important for the core plot. Some character decisions weren't too bright, but I suppose make that sense to some degree. There are many side characters and moments of tension as he fights for every step. This brings some interesting dynamics while moving from place to place, yet I'm not sure the message was very clear or even the point of it all. It felt somewhat like one guy walking around a barren wasteland while having some problems.

Andy (Martin Freeman) is the lead and he delivers a really strong performance. The side characters aren't quite as important since so many come and go in different ways. There's a core purpose for what he's trying to do, yet he doesn't particularly aim to match his original plotted goal very much. The film was shot beautifully, a great look at the open landscape.

The shots were long, created a sense of location yet at the same time it somewhat removed the fear factor that more tense intimate spots might have provided. Cargo doesn't really do anything new in the zombie genre, but explains the core rules in a satisfactory way. I wish it wasn't so long as there were pacing issues and it meandered at times. This could have been adjusted by not fully explaining every single glance of something throughout.

The Conclusion

Cargo presents a gritty isolated look at an outbreak in Australia, but meanders too much along the way. The acting was great from Freeman and he paints a strong picture of a man going through all of these problems. The danger could have been tenser, there were moments for it and they always pulled back. I'm not entirely sure what the main goal was for the adventure as they had a main task, then just trailed off. It looks great, the backdrop was gorgeous in its own way with authentic looking areas. It captured the setting of what they were aiming for, presented the chosen disease in a good way and the acting helped make it feel realistic.

Cargo Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 7.0