Directors
Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke
(Feature film debut)

Stars
Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Susie Porter and Anthony Hayes

A feature-length remake of their 2013 short film by the same name, Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke’s CARGO is an Australian post-apocalyptic drama/thriller that carries more than enough suspense to please fans of the genre and contains a universally human story on-board that’s bound to broaden its appeal just as much as the casting of its international star.

English import Martin Freeman (THE HOBBIT trilogy, BLACK PANTHER) is Andy, whose number one priority is to keep his wife, Kay (Susie Porter) and baby daughter, Rosie, safe from a virus outbreak that has turned most of the population into zombies. Andy is well aware that it takes just 48 hours to fully transition from man to monster once someone becomes infected. Fortunately, this horrifying reality is one that the family of three have managed to avoid, having lived together in a houseboat that is slowly drifting along a river somewhere in outback Australia. When they are forced to leave their floating abode due to running low on food, they become exposed to new dangers from the moment that they set foot on land.

A generous number of filmmaking features will receive their deserved recognition in this review, but first, let’s get straight to the stand-out of them all. 

To begin, it is merely a minor sub-plot operating in the background of the picture. The story of a young indigenous girl named Thoomi (Simone Landers), whose mission is very similar to Andy’s where she too is protecting a loved one from the dangers of the world, rises in prominence with each passing minute. The inclusion of this character and the development of sections of the plot brought forth via Thoomi represent indigenous culture and characters in an empowering manner that has never been executed before. As an added bonus, this same great achievement results in this zombie movie being markedly different from any other and also stamps CARGO as an identifiable and uniquely Australian production. This Oz-zom (Aussie zombie) flick continues to impress with its sweeping cinematography work and a largely atmospheric music score. Filmed entirely in South Australia, the reoccurring aerial shots enhance the isolation, beauty and brutality of the post-apocalyptic world being depicted and the diverse mix of sound and music consistently heighten the level of suspense.

In fact, that suspense casts an immediate stranglehold over you right from the opening minutes of the film. For the entire opening act, it rarely eases. A couple of paths that CARGO treads down from this point forward do normalise the film to a certain extent, which does ease some of its tension. Even if CARGO doesn’t re-produce the same potency in suspense it did before, the strong presence of Martin Freeman in the lead role and the fate that awaits each character mentioned in this review is always an involving journey to be a part of and is perfectly ended.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
MA15+ (Strong horror themes, violence and coarse language)

Trailer
CARGO

Moviedoc thanks Umbrella Entertainment for the invite to the screening of this film

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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