The Day of the Triffids (2009)

A Masterpiece!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

How on earth could the BBC system, that normally delivers high quality, come out with this disaster of a mini-series? There is no synopsis on the IMDb page. Maybe everyone is just too embarrassed to even try writing one. I certainly won't contribute! I did listen carefully to the radio drama from the Norwegian broadcaster NRK, made back in 1969, and that is far more exciting than this TV drama from 2009, even though one should expect the opposite. I haven't found out who has directed or produced this nonsense and I don't even care. And how could such top actors believe in it? They don't seem to be having a good time. The film is so full of logical flaws, bad acting and poor film crafting that it clearly is appropriate for use in film schools as a great example of how not to do it.

Two things happen - lights in the sky make most people go blind, and the world is simultaneously overrun by Triffids, intelligent ambulatory carnivorous plants.Classic stories - of which John Wyndham's The Day Of The Triffids is one - are almost entitled to revisitation by the TV/movie industry every few years. This particular iteration is a two part, 3 hour co-production between the BBC and sundry others, and features Dougray Scott as major protagonist Bill Masen.In this instance, Masen actually works with the Triffids, which were harnessed by his father to produce Triffid oil to defeat global warming in an interesting tweak to the original. In a less pleasing tweak, Masen's mother was killed by Triffids when he was a child, which results in frequent and annoying flashbacks of African natives in frightmasks.Dougray Scott is a dour, unappealing, and frequently unintelligible protagonist. Joely Richardson is a solidly effective leading lady and Eddie Izzard is an entertaining but motiveless baddie.The scenes of a devastated London are very effective, and the Triffids are nicely realised.Which leaves the script, in respect of which one can only say "Oh dear." There are digressions which would be fine in an ongoing series, but which have no place in a miniseries like this. There are illogicalities aplenty. There are characters with no apparent motivation, and unbelievable motivations. The Day Of The Triffids is an easy story to make believable. This effort chooses not to.

This 2009 mini TV series of "Day of the Triffids" is actually the first encounter I have had with the Triffids. I only just found out that there are older movies out there, when I went to write the review here on IMDb.Anyway, being unfamiliar with this franchise, I had no expectations as to what this TV series should deliver or live up to. I have to say that I found it to be adequately alright.The CGI effects were nice to look at, which really is the carrier of the series. The effects in here is what carries the show. But flesh-eating plants that move around? Well, I had a bit of a problem with that. Not really something within my field of interest. But I will not let that drag my opinion down.As for the cast and acting, well I thought it was alright. There were some fairly good faces on the casting list, and they did manage to provide sufficient entertainment throughout the entire series. Normally I do not like Jason Priestley, but he actually managed to shed his 90210 shackles in this production. So that was a great plus, for me at least.Now, what was halting here, in my opinion, was the overall story. Sure, there was a red line throughout the story, but there are just so many things that makes you go "hmmm, now why would that happen?" or "yeah, that is what would happen in a situation like that". And that was bringing the overall experience of the TV series down.I do not consider this 2009 remake of the "Day of the Triffids" to be a bad experience, it actually came off quite alright, and it was worth sitting through it, although I did doze off once or twice along the way.If you like sci-fi, and if you like movies that are not heavy on plot or requires all too much thinking, then you might find "Day of the Triffids" right up your alley. And I suspect the same goes if you are a fan of really old sci-fi flicks that have been brushed up and put up to speed with the current date and technology, then you might want to sink your teeth into this.

I was disappointed with Day of the Triffids, it wasn't absolutely awful, but disappointing is the best way to describe it. I confess I have not read the book a shameful admission I know, but my dad who saw it with me has, and noted that the second half of the adaptation especially is completely different. I also do feel that it was not the best thing on Christmas television, Cranford Christmas was absolutely exceptional, and in terms of dramas of the year it is a major step down from the unforgettable Occupation which was one of the best dramas I'd seen the BBC produce in years.Okay, so what were the good things? The production values certainly. The special effects were above average making some scenes exhilarating visually to watch, and there was some good scenery particularly at the beginning. Joely Richardson was the redeeming feature of the cast, making the most of a clunky script and doing her best to breathe some life into the proceedings. I thought the first fifteen minutes were good, and the Triffid Attacks were well done.However, everything else disappointed me. The thing is it didn't grip or excite me; the pace was very uneven throughout, some parts were very slow and others were too rushed. The script as I've mentioned before was clunky and underdeveloped, and the plot while truly intriguing was rushed through without giving much thought to detail or explanation. The direction was rather lazy, and there is some wooden acting going on. Dougray Scott could have been so good here in the lead, instead he seems to be phoning in his performance. Eddie Izzard tries his best, but he lacks menace and his presence is sometimes jarring, and Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave are given little to do.In conclusion, had a great idea but some of it didn't work for me. Some good things certainly, but it was disappointing in terms of script and acting, and I can understand why some people who love the book disliked this. Even from having not read the book, I could tell it was underdeveloped. Oh well, can't please everyone I guess. 5/10 Bethany Cox