.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

The world is infected with a virus. I know. I know. This has been done countless times before. Most times, the virus results in humans being transformed into some kind of zombie or creature. Resident Evil and I Am Legend are good examples. Sometimes, the virus is alien - Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Dreamcatchers, if you will. And sometimes the contaminant will just simply kill you a la Outbreak.

In Carriers, the new thriller starring Chris Pine (Captain Kirk - Star Trek) and Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), the disease is airborne. Its effects are slow but deadly. It begins with a rash and eventually, you are spitting up blood while bleeding out your ears.

Bobby (Perabo), Brian (Pine), Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Kate (Emily Van Kamp) are three struggling survivors in a world where contact with an infected person could lead to your eventual death. Staying away from those few that are still alive and disinfecting and wiping everything down to which you have or will come into contact is the reality of a world where a pandemic goes viral.

As with most pandemic films, interaction with others both infected and suspected will be the focal point of the story. Bobby and the group first meet Frank (Christopher Meloni) and his infected daughter. Only assisting them when their own needs take president, they are quick to quarantine Frank and his daughter in the back of their vehicle. Their search for hope, but largely for gas, will be the hamster in the wheel that generates the story.

Written and directed by brothers Alex and David Pastor, Carriers is a sharp and thought provoking thriller that is in no way the horror film as it has been discussed in various forums. Alex and David paint the world a frightening one, full of infectious possibilities at every turn, but the world in which these potential risks exist is not a bleak and desolate world. There are no raging fires. No gray skies covered in soot and smoke. No cannibals or deer running through the city streets.

Instead, we are introduced to an even more frightening projection. A world where everything is exactly as it is right now. A world where a virus takes its hosts so quickly that there is no time for escalated crime or military intervention. It's your town or your neighborhood as you know it. Just everyone is dead.

As various members of the tight group become infected with the disease, moral issues arise as to whether you should continue to help those showing symptoms or if you should have your own survival needs kick in. Reminiscent of 2006's Right At Your Door, Carriers will generate discussion with the right choices over the moral ones.

There isn't a lot of action or generally tense moments in Carriers. It's more of heavy drama with some rashes thrown in for fun. My viewing patrons were bored and complained that not enough 'happened' to keep them entertained. I hope they are in the minority. The ending is predictable, but the ride is thought provoking and consistently challenges you in a thought process of 'what would I do?' A thought provoking film in my opinion is hardly 'boring'.