"It's nice to see that you've all bonded through this disaster."
Dawn of the Dead (2004) is a remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978), written by James Gunn and the feature directorial debut of Zack Snyder.
Dawn of the Dead has the same premise and title of the original, but the similarities end after that. A group of survivors hole up in a shopping mall and discover no where is really safe.
[This review refers to the unrated director's cut]
One thing this film does well is its suspense. There's plenty of sequences where characters have to avoid or dodge this film's highly a acrobatic undead. I'll admit that this adds tension, but it's almost too easy isn't it? You had to work in older zombie films to get your characters in a tight spot with enough zombies so that it was actually hard for them. But admittedly, adding the mall security guy at the beginning and making the zombies the main antagonistic threat of the film cures the slow and drawn out problems that the original had.
I like the camerawork in this film. Lots of times I don't feel there was enough meaning or thought as to why they moved the camera that way. But creative shots and playful camerawork at least adds up into something interesting to watch.
And like Romero's Dead films, this film has some really interesting characters. brought to life by really good actors. Unfortunately the film doesn't really take advantage of these good characters. I really liked Ving Rhames portrayal of the police officer who unfortunately doesn't really do anything in this film. And I enjoy our leads played by Sarah Polley and Jake Weber who for some reason fall in love by the end of the film (because they're both white maybe?). And I like the addition of scenes with the gun shop owner, Andy to this story.
The worst thing about this film is its logic! First and foremost: running zombies. There's no reason for zombies to run when you think about it, and convienetly the film doesn't give you a reason either. And these zombies don't just run, they full-on sprint, there is multiple cases in this film where zombies run far faster then they ever could have when they were alive! They also seem like they're very smart and show problem solving ability (again for no reason), there's even one point where one climbs on pipes overhead in a parking garage and jumps onto someone to attack. What the heck? Okay zombies ran in Return of the Living Dead (1985) but it was hilarious in that film, done for comedy (I loved watching a cop car pull up to the abandoned graveyard only to be suddenly mobbed by a huge bunch of zombies). In this film running zombies is done for tension and suspense and without any explanation for it, it just makes me confused. This the biggest logic problem of the film but not the only one. There's countless things in this movie that when you think about them, it really doesn't make sense. Like mall security has a holding cell, really? How did the first bunch of zombies (namely the janitor) get into the mall if it was completely locked up at the beginning of the movie? And on top of this there's lots of times where people make stupid horror movie mistakes like going to save a dog that the zombies weren't going after... or even worse going after the girl that was dumb enough to do that. Yay, mankind! This all adds up to the film pretty much being an enjoyable baseline action movie but if you actually think about anything that is happening the movie starts to fall apart. This is one film where the zombies really do want you brains... to be turned off!
The other thing this film does poorly is mess things up the previous film did well. The empathy for zombies that the original did so well is completely gone here. And the whole point of staying in the mall in the original wasn't just provide a place where our characters could survive, it was to make some political commentary on our lives. Here the mall just becomes a place devoid of meaning. This pretty much tells me someone watched the original and didn't understand what was good about it at all.
The one thing I really love about this film is the title sequence. The clips of real life massacres and news footage of riots combined with quick zombie shots all with Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around" playing over it, works so well. It's a really amazing idea and not as horribly 'on the nose' as playing Disturbed's "Get Down with the Sickness."
3/5 Stars.
Happy watching!
The 31 Nights of Macabre Movies are winding down now, we're done with the zombie flicks for now and gonna move on to the horror/comedy classic Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
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