Netflix’s ‘Bird Box Barcelona’ Is Actually Better Than The Original

I had absolutely no idea that there was a Bird Box sequel coming out until it arrived on Netflix yesterday. And I was not expecting it to be one set across the ocean in Spain, thousands of miles away from where we last left Sandra Bullock, who is not in the film.

And yet, somehow, Bird Box Barcelona is actually…better than the original movie. I did not especially even like the original movie, but I really like the Barcelona-based sequel, even as I know that is flying in the face of critic and viewer reviews so far. The original Bird Box has a 64% from critics and a 58% from audiences. Bird Box Barcelona in turn has a 48% from critics and a 55% from audiences.

If I had looked up those scores beforehand, I might have skipped the movie entirely, as I have too many other things in my backlog to waste time on something bad. But I’m glad I didn’t, and I am fine being one of the dissenting voices here. Despite the lack of Sandra Bullock, obviously the best part of the first film, the overall arc and storyline of Barcelona is better.

The film is led by the talented Mario Casas as Sebastian, a survivor traveling with his daughter, trying to navigate the apocalyptic streets of the city, where looking at mysterious creatures prowling outside will cause you to instantly kill yourself, minus a select few it turns into murderous raiders instead.

The main reason I liked the film so much is because of a turn revealed early on that I really, really don’t want to say here, as the surprise of it really caught me off guard and I hope it does the same for you. But it changes the entire narrative structure of the story and creates a far more compelling plot than Bullock’s original.

I’ve heard some complaints that we never get to “see” the monsters, but there are actually some in-depth explanations for how the monsters operate, which makes a lot of sense (at least sci-fi sense) in a way I found satisfying enough without needing to see some giant CGI-thing on screen.

There are also compelling themes throughout the story. Yes, everyone is trying not to die to monsters and evil cultists, but there’s an undercurrent of how we deal with grief and loss that is pretty nuanced and emotional.

I realize that by recommending this so strongly I may get some people coming back to tell me I was crazy. But something about this movie really resonated with me in a way I was not expecting, and I found it far more thrilling and interesting than the original that I mostly considered a sub-par knock-off of The Quiet Place. This? This is something else, and feels fresh and worth watching.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.