If you are going to set up a story against a gigantic backdrop of a mysterious global phenomenon, i'd like to think of it as a metaphor for something. Maybe a mother's fear of bringing children in a chaotic world, or a woman's struggle to find connection with her loved ones. The birds in the box should have had some subtle sublime significance at least. Instead the story unfolds into a relentless, and somewhat pointless action adventure. The writing was bland (Mother? don't go!). Sandra Bullock held it together enough to sit through it all, and a couple of scenes with little Vivien Lyra Blair was poignant. thankfully i had a "fast forward 10 seconds" button to skim over the dreary bits, and used it liberally over the second half of the movie. Skip it. It's not worth your time.