Zombie attack
I'm feeling hot, tired, bloated and irritated. I'm either pregnant or at work.
On Tuesday night, a bunch of my pals and associates drove up to Milwaukee to watch baseball. Not able to participate in the fabulous ADD, I instead attended a preview screening of George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead." In case I've never made it clear to you, Romero's "Dead" Trilogy is my favorite movie series ever. I was waiting for this one like most people were waiting for "Revenge of the Sith." Guess what? I liked it better than "Sith." Even better, I got to write this review. I'll be happy to expand on any point made with minimal prompting.
Yep, it almost makes up for getting rear-ended, waiting more than an hour for a cop to appear and missing the Eels show on Wednesday. A casual dinner in Elmhurst and a few cold Zywiecs were no substitute. I mean, is this not the greatest song you've heard in forever?
On Tuesday night, a bunch of my pals and associates drove up to Milwaukee to watch baseball. Not able to participate in the fabulous ADD, I instead attended a preview screening of George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead." In case I've never made it clear to you, Romero's "Dead" Trilogy is my favorite movie series ever. I was waiting for this one like most people were waiting for "Revenge of the Sith." Guess what? I liked it better than "Sith." Even better, I got to write this review. I'll be happy to expand on any point made with minimal prompting.
Yep, it almost makes up for getting rear-ended, waiting more than an hour for a cop to appear and missing the Eels show on Wednesday. A casual dinner in Elmhurst and a few cold Zywiecs were no substitute. I mean, is this not the greatest song you've heard in forever?
posted by SoulReaper at 3:46 PM
5 Comments:
WooT! This blog is teh suck!
So you DIDN'T laugh thru the whole thing? That's good.
OOh, that is a good song. Must have.
OK, I realize the review link is now invalid. I'll figure out a way to post my Herald articles for posterity in the near future.
Romero revives zombie saga with less gore, smart creatures
In a horror movie landscape dominated by moody Japanese ghost stories, zombies are suddenly big business.
Last year, a surprisingly decent remake of George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" and the British indie comedy "Shaun of the Dead" proved that audiences still get a kick from undead flesh-eaters. But the likes of "Resident Evil" or "House of the Dead" - recent action-horror clunkers inspired by video games - cry out for a more cerebral treatment.
Finally, Romero himself has returned to the zombie saga he began with 1968's "Night of the Living Dead," continued with "Dawn" in 1978 and then "Day of the Dead" in 1985. Despite its concessions to commercial interests, "Land of the Dead" continues his dystopian vision of a world slowly conquered by its former occupants.
Romero's first zombie flick made for a major studio finds an outpost of humans all but outnumbered by the undead. Most live in a makeshift camp protected by mercenaries like Riley (Simon Baker) and Cholo (John Leguizamo), who only venture outside in Dead Reckoning, an armored battle vehicle straight out of "The Road Warrior."
The rest of the humans live in Fiddler's Green, a fortified luxury tower controlled by the oily Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who financed Dead Reckoning. These residents, of course, are the wealthy folks, because in Kaufman's supply-side opinion, entrepreneurs are entitled.
Cholo, tired of being Kaufman's lap dog, gives the industrialist a few hours to hand over some cash - or else he'll fire Dead Reckoning's missiles and demolish Fiddler's Green. Kaufman enlists Riley to brave the zombie hordes and recover the vehicle, but Riley naturally has his own self-serving
plans.
Teamed with his simple-minded pal Charlie (Robert Joy), tough chick Slack (Asia Argento, daughter of "Dawn" producer and Italian horror legend Dario Argento) and some company goons, Riley's timed manhunt through a post-apocalyptic hellscape smells a bit like "Escape From New York." Yet unlike many of his acolytes, there's more to Romero than gunplay and splattered heads.
Hopper hams it up and looks like he's having a ball, but few lines pack the punch of his mantra, "You have no right!" That he makes no distinction between yelling it at humans or zombies sums up the seething class divisions that make Romero's Bush-era nightmare so gratifying.
As in each of Romero's "Dead" films, the zombies who rule "Land" are progressively smarter. In "Day," we found out that the lumbering lunks can actually learn and make cognitive decisions. Now, they have a huge, bald, undead leader who teaches them to wield weapons. He even expresses empathy
when he sees "his people" in pain.
If the people struggling to survive outside Fiddler's Green are of a lower class than its gilded residents, the zombies are the ultimate underclass, abused and literally hunted for sport. If anyone has the right and reason
to revolt, it's them.
As one character says, explaining his decision to "turn" rather than die after a zombie bites him, "I always wanted to see how the other half lives."
Sure, anyone whose stomach turns gleefully to Tom Savini's legendary "Dawn" and "Day" gore effects will find "Land" shockingly tame by comparison. The overactive score telegraphs too many shocks, and the "colorful" soldier characters seem borrowed from every action-horror crossover since "Aliens."
And, yes, it should have been called "Dusk of the Dead," if not because the other titles have been time-based, then at least for alliteration's sake.
Romero could have gotten away with making his undead legions faster or noisier, as has been the trend in recent zombie movies. But he didn't and he stayed true to his series in many ways, delivering a blood-soaked drama with a strong flavor of social satire. He once again warns us that humanity's greatest danger is always itself.
As for the relative absence of blood and guts ... well, that's what DVD is for.
* * * out of four
NOTE: After a second viewing and reading an interview with Romero from a year ago where he promises that there will be a director's cut DVD no matter what, I'd add half a star to that rating.
Post a Comment
<< Home