Arnold Schwarzenegger portrays farmer Wade Vogel, who searches for his teenaged daughter, Maggie (Abigail Breslin), who has been in the city when a zombie-like virus has spread across the country. He finds her in a medical facility and is allowed to take her home, although she's been bitten. They warn him that once she starts showing symptoms--anger and hunger for flesh--that he needs to either take her to quarantine (where they put them down) or take care of her himself, with a shotgun. Wade's wife, Caroline (Joely Richardson) is afraid of her step-daughter, but tries to go along with it.
The police make regular visits, anticipating the "turn", and there's some conflict there.
The "zombies", which can be killed like a human, are black-blooded and rotted looking, more along the lines of 28 DAYS LATER than NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
The movie is well-shot and has a good look to it-- it really seems like the end of the world. Not only are people dying, the virus has affected the plant and animal life as well, so everything seems dead. But the tale is extremely slow-moving and I think Arnold is miscast as the lead. I can see why he probably wanted to do this movie--it's basically a character driven drama and he's cast against type--but I kept on expecting him to say some one liners and kill a lot of creatures. I wasn't convinced, especially with the teary-eyed scenes. And you know exactly what the ending is going to be within about the first ten minutes of the movie--no surprise there. On one hand I like MAGGIE because it tries to be different with the zombie genre, but it didn't do a lot for me. The film would have been much better with a different actor in the lead--and with a different, not so predictable ending.
Arnold Schwarzenegger portrays farmer Wade Vogel, who searches for his teenaged daughter, Maggie (Abigail Breslin), who has been in the city when a zombie-like virus has spread across the country. He finds her in a medical facility and is allowed to take her home, although she's been bitten. They warn him that once she starts showing symptoms--anger and hunger for flesh--that he needs to either take her to quarantine (where they put them down) or take care of her himself, with a shotgun. Wade's wife, Caroline (Joely Richardson) is afraid of her step-daughter, but tries to go along with it.
