Piper Perabo Movie:

		List Price: $19.99		Label: Paramount Salesrank: 8193 Released: December 29, 2009
		Our Price: $14.99
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Carriers Reviews:
Worth a watch for viral zombie film fans
2009-12-15 - Brian and Danny grew up as two brothers who were relatively close to one another. They cherish the memories they have of Turtle Beach, a beach their family vacationed to every summer. The abandoned motel in Turtle Beach may be their best bet of surviving the highly contagious disease that now plagues the entire country and possibly the world. Not much is known about the virus other than the victims coughing up blood and bleeding from the ears as their condition worsens. Brian actually came up with a few rules that will hopefully get him, his girlfriend Bobby, his brother Danny, and Danny's friend Kate through this disease ridden world to Turtle Beach clean. The rules include avoiding the infected at all costs, disinfecting anything they've touched in the past 24 hours, and that the infected are already dead as there is no cure. You may survive if you stick to the rules, but actually abiding by them is an entirely different story.

Right off the bat, people are probably going to compare Carriers to Zombieland because of the rules. Carriers was released a full month before Zombieland, but Paramount Vantage folded upon its initial release causing its wide release to be an extremely limited one at the last minute (I think it wound up playing at only two theaters in the country). Expectations rise unintentionally in situations such as this. "This is that horror film that was practically shelved earlier this year and is finally being released." The result is a horror film that is well worth watching, but may not be entirely what you're expecting.

Carriers is more about establishing an atmosphere than anything else. Everything is abandoned and rightfully so as most people were picked off handfuls at a time by this pandemic. The entire film is more like the first half hour of 28 Days Later where Jim wakes up in an abandoned hospital and realizes how empty the streets of London are. There aren't masses of the infected running around lusting for brains or wanting to tear humans apart in Carriers. The story follows these four friends as they journey across the country to this supposed sanctuary where they hope to tough it out until this disease runs its course. Carriers is more of a slow burn as things turn from bad to worse very slowly and snowball as the film goes on.

Chris Pine is really the drawing factor of the film. His role as Brian is kind of like a more intense version of his role as Kirk in Star Trek from earlier this year. Brian comes off as an inconsiderate prick the first half of the film and seems to only do things that benefit himself. The second half is where his character gets interesting though. The speech he gives Danny about their parents and telling Danny that he only told him what he wanted to hear is the turning point for Brian. Chris Pine shines as things begin to roll downhill for Brian as his emotions take center stage and his true demeanor is revealed.

Everything else in the film pretty much feels like routine manuevers when it comes to films revolving around viral outbreaks as some main characters contract the disease, they resort to drastic measures to survive, and begin to question their humanity along the way. The most disappointing part of the film is the ending as things just seem to kind of stop without much of a resolution. It seems like films like this either end this way or have a really depressing ending and that's its biggest flaw. Movie buffs who have seen films concerning pandemics already have a rough idea of how the film is going to end and it's about time to mix that up a bit. There's got to be a decent way to end the film that offers something a bit different that could wrap everything up until that point, but also leave enough room open for a sequel if need be.

Carriers may be a bit slow at first and doesn't really offer anything you probably haven't seen before in a film like this, but is still worth seeing for Chris Pine's performance. It's kind of a more serious take on Zombieland without actual zombies running or stumbling around with an atmosphere similar to the one established in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. If you're a fan of films involving a virus that has wiped out most of the human population, then this is still worth a watch.

Close
2009-12-11 - Well anyone expected a zombie virus or an action movie are going to be disappointed. This is certainly a character piece with 4 young adults traveling across a desolate United States that has been mostly wiped out by a pandemic. It is a movie about how they deal with other survivors they meet, and how they try to keep themselves free of the unnamed virus. The movie really never offers anything more. There are no explanations for what has happened, no tidy endings. I would have expected to see a bit more destruction and chaos in a world that is dying. For the most part the roads are clear and the towns still standing even though you would think that people fleeing the virus would have caused damage as well as looters, and just the sick themselves who have about a week to live after contracting the virus. It is just an okay movie as a small budget character piece.

Surprisingly good
2009-12-10 - Usually when a distributor dumps a movie into a handful of theaters with little to no screenings, it usually winds up being a dreadful waste. Not so with Carriers, which winds up being a surprisingly taut, and incredibly bleak, take on the whole pandemic outbreak theme. Written and directed by the Pastor brothers, Carriers revolves around a group of survivors (Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, and Emily VanCamp) traversing the hazardous land and following a set of rules that is helping keep them alive. A chance encounter with a stranded motorist (Law & Order: SVU and Oz vet Christopher Meloni) begins to change all that however, as things start to go from bad to worse for everyone involved. One may think that Carriers is all about zombies and such just by viewing the trailer alone, but it isn't, yet it still manages to leave a mark upon the viewer as an engaging, albeit slow-moving, horror/thriller. The surprising standout here is Pine, hot off the success of playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek, who gives a just plain fantastic performance. All in all, Carriers may not be the 28 Days Later-style zombie thriller that you may be expecting (like I was), but that aside, it is wholeheartedly worth your time.

A slow take on another pandemic story
2009-12-03 - Customers have been asking for all things Chris Pine that do not involve a Tremor brother theme (ala Smokin' Aces [Blu-ray]) and unfortunately this film is all that is available at the moment.

A virus has decimated humanity so a foursome with an unknown history are traveling cross country to hopefully find a safe haven. Along the way we get peppered with the usual long string of irritating moments and self defeating actions amongst this isolated crew. There are no zombies or nasty critters anywhere, just an infrequent mixing of other survivors out to save themselves. Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci play the brothers that lead this group, and they both give decent performances. The pace is not meant to be scary, and there is no horror (as the cover art would make you think - it shows the only real "jumper" moment with a dying person zombie look-alike). Some brief performances by Chris Meloni and a couple of Mad Men: Season 2 regulars in Moses and Shipka.

The 84 minutes seems short, but for what they made the film about in ambiguity and lack of closure or big picture items, it fits. Go in not expecting anything huge, just a slow burn post virus kind of film that throws the moral compass decisions right at you. Not a bad film or an original idea, just nothing takes this DVD to the next level of being really good. The picture quality is excellent and the sound is a solid 5.1 with subs in English, French and Spanish - Spanish language track is included. There are no special features at all. 3 for the film and quality and nothing else.