Making a movie is very similar to baking a cake. You have a set list of ingredients, instructions on how to properly cook it, and a wide variety of toppings to make it look and taste all the more delicious. Should you follow the instructions to the letter and do so with love and care, you will be rewarded with a perfect dessert for everyone to enjoy. However, if you opt to leave out an essential ingredient or skip one of the crucial steps, then no matter how much toppings you put on top, you won't be able to mask the fact that the cake is not truly ready. This is more or less what seems to have happened to this movie. It has most of the ingredients to be good but is missing a few things that could have made it perfect. Namely, a fully polished script and a longer running time.
The story takes place sometime after a post-apocalyptic event in which the vast majority of human-kind has been infected by a super aggressive strain of rabies, mutating people into powerful monsters who can pass on the infection to others with a single bite. Some of the uninfected humans have taken shelter in an underground bunker where a scientist named Dr. Gina Rose (Natalie Dormer), along with the help of her friend Morgan (Matt Smith, aka the 12th Doctor), is on the search for the elusive "Patient Zero", the first person to have been infected, in an effort to synthesize a cure. Morgan, as it turns out, is able to communicate with those who have been affected by the virus, due to him having been bitten but not turned. He conducts regular interrogations with various infected people but seems to be getting nowhere due to their aggressive and spastic behavior. That is until he meets an unusual patient dubbed The Professor (Stanley Tucci), who is not only the most intelligent person despite being affected by the virus but also seems to be playing games with Morgan. Causing him and everyone else close to him to question who the real monsters are in this new world.
For the most part, there is much in this movie that you have likely seen in other films with a similar story. Mostly this is an amalgamation of 28 Days Later and Day of the Dead with a little bit of The Usual Suspects for good measure. And, just like all of those movies, Patient Zero features excellent acting (minus a few one-note performances from some of the supporting cast), a sharp insight on the nature of humanity, and relatively unexpected twist at the end. These elements make Patient Zero a reasonably watchable movie for a lazy Sunday. Even so, there are still a few things about it which I feel prevent it from being a genuinely great film.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this film suffers from two main issues: an unpolished script and a too short run time. The general story, most of the dialogue, and the three main characters are just fine. There's enough texture in the narrative and chemistry between the main characters to create a compelling story. What prevents it from genuinely being so is the lack of that same texture from any of the supporting cast. All of the other characters are entirely one dimensional and have dialogue that sounds like it was written by a thirteen-year-old boy trying to appear smarter and more bad-ass than he really is. In addition, the films is just too short. It feels like there was, at one point, a lot more scenes that further fleshed out the supporting characters and also enriched the world, that were all suddenly cut out of the film to get to the next intense interrogation and action scene as quickly as possible. The movie lost even more points very early on when explains the world and the situation of the story during its opening credits (very effectively I might add) only to have the main character repeat what we were just told in a voiceover immediately after the opening credits have finished. It's like the film is under the impression that everyone in the audience has ADD.
Despite these unfortunate issues that make the film less than it really deserved to be, what makes it all worth it is the incredible performance from the ever-reliable Stanley Tucci. Who is not only one of my favorite actors but is also gifted with a kind of rare screen presence that you just don't see in some actors anymore. Even when he is playing a villain, you can't help but soak in every single delivery. He's the kind of actor I can watch on stage reading the phonebook and still be entertained.
While this is not a perfect movie, it is just good enough to serve as a pleasant distraction for ninety minutes, and Tucci's performance is reasonable compensation for the rest of the movie's faults. At the time of this writing,
Patient Zero is available on-demand. If you are able to rent it, give it a look.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you for reading.
