The Girl with All the Gifts

The zombie genre receives a revitalizing shot in the arm in this engaging adaptation of M.R. Carey's bestselling 2014 sci-fi novel. In a future where a majority of Earth's population has succumbed to a contagious fungus that attacks the neural centers—reducing humans to cannibalistic ravagers called “hungries”—the British military has undertaken a special project to rehabilitate and teach a group of hybrid children (disease carriers born to human mothers) in order to find a means of curing the plague. One of these children is Melanie (Sennia Nanua), an exceptionally bright adolescent who forms a strong bond with one of the kinder instructors, Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton). When hungries overwhelm the base, Melanie manages to escape with Helen, strict Sgt. Eddie Parks (Paddy Considine), lead researcher Dr. Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close), and several others. This ragtag group must put aside their fears and prejudices as they pick their way across a hostile landscape filled with motion-sensing hungries, roving packs of feral children, and massive growths of the fungus spores that just might spell Armageddon for the human race as we know it. Although it sticks to a character schematic seen all too often in end-of-the-world epics, the film keeps a sense of danger and intrigue running high. The two real stars here are newcomer Nanua, and the pulsing tribal chant musical score composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer. Recommended. (J. Cruz)