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Cargo see Bilbo Baggins going on another quest… as couple Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay (Susie Porter), who are stuck in the Australian outback, trying to get to a military base for reasons which, at the start we’re unaware, with Kay asking, “What IF we’ve outrun it?”, but what exactly is IT?
Well, we know from the trailer that this is a zombie movie, and that’s what they’re on the run from, but we join them as there’s a lull in the ‘action’ seen by this family, doing their best to protect their daughter, Rosie, in this post-apocalypic landscape.
If you do get attacked by the enemy, then you have 48 hours left until you turn into one of them, but thankfully, none of that happens here, and we spend a comfortable 104 minutes in this family’s company with NOTHING going wrong until the end credits roll and they all live happily ever after…. Nah, I almost had you… After all, if NOTHING happened to them, then what would be the point in making it? So, you know the crap’s going to hit the fan before too long.
I don’t bother with shows like The Walking Dead because I can’t be doing with countless hours in the company of the same characters dealing with the same zombies over and over, such is how that programme comes across. Some ideas stretch out well to a full series, but in cases like this, a couple of hours, maximum, is enough.
In Cargo, the script has a few neat surprises, while the direction shows fantastic views of the outback and there’s a great complementary score which is nicely menacing when it needs to be.
When I first heard about this film, I wasn’t sure if this cargo was worth the shipping cost, but on full viewing, it did keep me intrigued as to how things would turn out, as the ultimate aim is to get Rosie to safety, accompanied by one or both of the couple.
Cargo is not the best trip you’ll take this year, but it’s certainly worth the journey.
Cargo takes its first step on Netflix from Friday, May 18th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 104 minutes
Studio: Netflix
Year: 2018
Format: 2.35:1
Released: May 18th 2018
Rating: 7/10
Directors: Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke
Producers: Russell Ackerman, Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings, Mark Patterson and John Schoenfelder
Screenplay: Yolanda Ramke
Cast:
Andy: Martin Freeman
Kay: Susie Porter
Vic: Anthony Hayes
Lorraine: Caren Pistorius
Etta: Kris McQuade
Josie: Natasha Wanganeen
Willie: Bruce R Carter
Thoomi: Simone Landers
Daku: David Gulpilil
Rosie: Lily Anne McPherson-Dobbins, Marlee Jane McPherson-Dobbins, Finlay Sjoberg and Nova Sjoberg
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.