Cargo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Cargo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 23, 2020

Hey, is anyone in the mood for a disturbing film about a global pandemic? Well, just in case real life isn’t enough for you these days, Cargo comes along to continue the rather bizarre chain of post-Apocalyptic movies that have been set Down Under, including such disparate entries as On the Beach, Mad Max (and really the entire Mad Max Trilogy), Tank Girl, The Rover and These Final Hours. Cargo mixes in a quasi- zombie element (the victims are called "virals", but the effect is exactly the same), and in some ways, aspects of this film are certainly reminiscent of many of the others linked to above, probably especially These Final Hours, which, like this film, features a man and a youngster named Rose (Rosie in this film). Cargo, for all of its perceived End Times dourness, is probably more about family relationships than a zombie apocalypse, with a man named Andy (an impressive Martin Freeman) attempting to find a safe haven for him and his baby Rosie (equally impressive work, though obviously in a completely different way, from two different sets of twins). The first part of the film charts the efforts of Andy, his wife Kay (Susie Porter) and little Rosie attempting to stay away from the shuffling hordes by consigning themselves to Andy's houseboat, which Andy pilots among what look like kind of "back alleyway" routes of water. When Andy discovers a half submerged sailboat one day, he decides to investigate for supplies, since the trio is running perilously short on food, which of course leads to calamity.

It’s actually Kay who encounters something in the capsized sailboat when she inadvisedly decides to go scavenging herself. She returns to the houseboat badly wounded, having been bitten by an unseen assailant (whom Kay at least is able to delineate had fingers, meaning she’s probably been infected by the “virus”). That in turn makes Andy desperate to get to some kind of hospital or at least somewhere someone can help them, and so the three decide to take their little skiff to land, where they can search for a hoped for oasis. In the meantime, the film has continually been cutting to a young Aboriginal girl whom we later find out is named Thoomi (Simone Landers), with a number of shots of Thoomi running through the Outback on some kind of undefined “mission”. How Thoomi’s story intersects with Andy’s is a bit of a mystery until rather well into the tale.

That “intersection” appropriately comes courtesy of a road where Andy, Kay and Rosie crash after the sudden appearance of a zombie standing in the way. The crash mortally wounds the already infected Kay, but not before she manages to lash out and injure Andy, something that will "turn" Andy in 48 hours, according to one of the film's built in conceits. As he attempts to quickly process what has just happened and at least get Rosie to safety, he sees the zombie man standing there and makes some threatening motions toward him, at which point Thoomi kind of magically appears out of the bush and tells Andy not to hurt her father. That finally starts to allow Thoomi’s story to be told, though Cargo isn’t especially keen to get salient information to the viewer in any hurry. And in fact it even takes a while longer before Andy and Thoomi unsurprisingly join forces.

Two other characters named Vic (Anthony Hayes) and Lorraine (Caren Pistorius) when Andy seems to have finally found refuge, but that turns out to be a short lived illusion, one that is broken at least in part by Andy's discovery that Vic uses live human bait in a cage to attract zombies so that he can shoot them. Thoomi is Vic's latest captive, and soon enough, Andy finds himself in the same predicament. This part of the film, while at least structurally logical since it at least finally brings Thoomi and Andy together, is just one of what might arguably be a few too many detours this film takes.

The "ultimate quest" here turns out to be twofold, with Andy obviously needing to find someone to take care of Rosie before he becomes completely debilitated. The second half is that Thoomi is subscribing to an Aboriginal belief that her father's soul is in a kind of purgatory and needs to be released, so she is on the hunt for a shaman who can help. When Thoomi discovers her father's corpse tied to a tree where she had left him to set out on her search, it seems inevitable that these two desperate characters will find a certain salvation in each other's being. While this is probably over convoluted by half, there is some adept writing, especially late in the film when Andy seems to be channeling Thoomi's late father, as if to suggest his spirit did find some kind of release.

While the whole Aboriginal element is interesting and in its own way distinctive, I wish the film had either been entirely about that or left the whole thing out. As it stands, it shows up rather late in the story and then assumes a kind of intermittently focal and then evanescent presence, as the film tends to dart hither and yon to document other trials and tribulations suffered by Andy, along with continued melodrama offered by Vic. The film is incredibly scenic, given its gloomy context, and there are some kind of fun gross out effects as people give in to their zombie side, for those who like such things.

Cargo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cargo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.24:1. The IMDb doesn't offer any technical data, but I found this brief rundown on the shoot with cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson, where he discloses both Arri Alexa and RED cameras were used (I'm assuming everything was finished at a 2K DI). This is a really sharp and often rather beautifully detailed looking presentation, one which offers consistently high levels of fine detail (sometimes to stomach churning proportions in some of the more graphic moments). Several aerial shots (which sound like they were done with the RED cameras) have breathtaking clarity and really exceptional depth of field. The palette looks natural throughout, and some of the burnished landscapes offer some vivid hues in the orange and burnt umber territory. There are occasional deficits in shadow detail, with a bit of attendant murkiness, in a few very dark scenes, as in a climactic showdown inside a train tunnel, where it's actually hard to make out what's happening at a couple of brief junctures.

Cargo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Cargo features a nicely evocative DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. With so much of the film taking place outside, ambient environmental sounds regularly populate the side and rear channels, and a very effective score by a coterie of composers, one which references native Aboriginal sounds, also spills through the surround channels very invitingly. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free presentation. Optional English subtitles are accessible under the Play Menu.

Cargo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Cargo: Shaping a Fragile Future (HD; 17:24) is an interesting EPK which features Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, a discussing the genesis of the project and the production, offering a few clarifying comments about some odd story elements like how the zombies bury their heads in the sand.


• Cargo: Maternal Combat (HD; 5:48) is an interview with Natasha Wanganeen.


• Interviews with Cast and Crew (HD; 42:03) feature Martin Freeman, producer Samantha Jennings, Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling, Simone Landers, costume designer Heather Wallace, hair and makeup designer Beverley Freeman (who is hilarious), prosthetics designer Larry Van Duynhoven, and production designer Jo Ford. This concludes with some behind the scenes footage.


• Q & A - May 9 2018, Melbourne GPO (HD; 28:59) features Natasha Wanganeen, Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling answering audience questions.


• Tropfest 2013 Short (HD; 7:17) is the festival short that sparked the feature after going viral (pun unavoidable) on YouTube. I have to say in some ways I found this short piece to be more visceral than the finished film. It starts with the car crash and doesn't include the Aboriginal element, and perhaps has a clearer focus as a result.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:16)

Cargo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's rather interesting and perhaps instructive to compare this finished film with the short (also included on this disc as a supplement) which inspired it. The short is obviously more compact, but it also doesn't have the increasingly frustrating number of sidebars that the feature film version does. I think Cargo might have worked better as mostly Thoomi's story rather than Andy's, as counterintuitive as that may sound, since the short only focuses on the desperate father trying to get his baby to safety. But it's the Aboriginal element that really sets Cargo apart from some of its post-Apocalyptic and/or zombie kin, whether or not set in Australia, and it's that element which might have been the better main focus. Cargo should still appeal to those with an interest in character driven quasi-horror pieces, and the cast throughout the film is quite impressive. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats noted, Cargo comes Recommended.