Vivarium is a science fiction thriller film directed by Lorcan Finnegan. The plot sees young couple Gemma (Imogen Poots), and Tom (Jessie Eisenberg), become trapped in a lifeless samey suburban nightmare with no way out. One day a package arrives that contains a baby the message on the box reads something to the extent of raise this and get out, things only get weirder from here.
I was quite excited for this before I watched this, however I was deeply let down by a number of factors throughout the film and I thought overall the film was subpar.
The two positive I will say of this film is that it has a great premise, it is suitably creepy and fills the viewer with a sense of existential dread, and that it has a get pair of actors leading the show. Eisenberg and Poots are a good pair, on a par with Eisenberg and Stone yeah probably, but not on the same level as Eisenberg and Stewart. Both give solidly good performances and are engaging.
However, both of these positives are undercut by a weak, smug and boring script. The how and why of the whole film is never really explained, as such you don’t know whether it’s aliens or hell or what; this was most certainly by design, but it does not pay off as it leaves the film feeling hollow and anticlimactic. The film seems to be in love with it’s own ‘smart’ premise and seems to think you should be impressed to, however the idea itself may be neat, but they never actually do all that much with it and a lot of it is a slog to get through.
How you know there is something wrong with this film is because it is only on for an hour and a half, but it feels like it goes on for years, maybe they want us to feel like we are trapped in a beige purgatory like hell just like the characters on screen.
Overall, this was promising, but it is the anthesis of everything it set out to be, it is a thriller that is not thrilling.
Pros.
Solid cast.
Interesting premise.
Cons.
It’s boring.
It is in love with itself.
It goes nowhere and explains nothing.
1.5/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 
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