Blindness - too bland

What's it about: Based on a novel, Blindness revolves around a story where an entire city is under attack from a condition that causes white blindness. There's chaos and mayhem as the administration breaks down as people start taking undue advantage of the situation.

Julianne Moore is the only one who has retained her eyesight in the situation. Married to a doctor (Ruffalo), she now has to not just survive but also help others and try to bring order to the craziness around her.

What's hot: It's Julianne Moore all the way. Despite a flawed character and gaping holes in the plot, Moore manages to deliver a strong performance. Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays a negative character scares you with his evil demeanour.

His scene where he leads a unit to rape a woman is very disturbing. The cinematography works well in creating the right mood. Ruffalo as Moore's husband excels in whatever little he does.

What's not: The tone of the film is depressing. Given the premise it works well but the direction is flawed and cliched especially in reaction scenes of the population attacked by the strange virus.

We have watched movies in the past dealing with similar situations. Zombie movies especially have established a blueprint of how to act when such an outbreak happens. The pace of the film suffers in the second half, and the narration isn't linear.

What to do: Neither disappointing, nor entertaining, Blindness could have been much better with a tighter plot and some interesting twists and turns in the climax.

Blindness
'1/2
Dir: Fernando Meirelles
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal