Movie review: Songbird

Entertainment Editor

Jan 20, 2021 06:00 am

For anyone curious about how dystopian a Covid-ravaged world can be, this bumpy Michael Bay-produced thriller provides a glimpse through Hollywood-tinted glasses.

The coronavirus has mutated, and countries are in their fourth year of lockdown.

A courier (KJ Apa), who is immune to the deadly pathogen, races against time to save his girlfriend (Sofia Carson) from being imprisoned in a quarantine camp after she is believed to be infected.

The first film to shoot in Los Angeles during a lockdown, it was - ironically - rushed out to capitalise on, or perhaps even exploit, our pandemic anxieties.

While its premise does appear timely and topical, reflecting a recognisable new normal and touching on ethics, the effects of social distancing and oppressive government measures on mental health, and even throwing in a MacGuffin in the form of immunity bracelets, Songbird sings a different tune in its final act.

Perhaps fans of Riverdale and Descendants will be thrilled to see their idols Apa and Carson hook up, but the socially irresponsible turn of their star-crossed love story really shouldn't be something worth romanticising.