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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Movies / TV / Entertainment - Dawn of the Dead - Peer Reviewed |
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Geiger Buster Beetle Level: 34  Posts: 10/460 EXP: 241080 For next: 12571 Since: 03-15-04 From: Indianapolis, IN, USA Since last post: 6 hours Last activity: 6 hours |
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| I managed to see the latest zombie movie last night at an advanced screening. Scary? You betcha. As per the usual, the remainder of my post may contain some very mild spoilers, but probably nothing you couldn't figure out yourself if you've seen the trailer. Plot The movie opens with little in the way of credits. Anna is the usual overworked nurse, and it just trying to get out of the hospital at this point and get home. She delivers some head scans to the on duty doctor of a patient who has gotten steadily less responsive as the day wore on. Its feared that he may have some head trauma. On her way out, she squeezes past a serious neck injury victim. She goes home and does the usual stuff, managing to miss pretty much all of the early warning signs that something bad is starting to happen. Early the next morning, Anna and her husband awaken to find a neighborhood child standing in the doorway to their bedroom. The child steps forward from the shadows, and she's very clearly not okay. There's blood splattered on the front of her evening gown. Her skin has become quite pale and sickly. Oh, and yes, she's missing quite a bit of the flesh from around her mouth. Their first response is to call 911 for the kid, but then the kid reaches over and takes a big bite out of her husband's neck. Anna's day grows considerably worse from that point. Eventually, Anna manages to make it to a mall for safety, which is where most of the movie takes place. Content This film is rated R, and appropriately so. There is probably just enough gore in this film to disturb the average movie goer. But, considering this is a movie about the dead eating the living, it could have been much worse. There is some sex in this movie, but probably nothing that couldn't have made it past a PG13 rating. The only nudity of note is actually a few seconds in the closing credits. I was a bit surprised that they didn't have any nudity up to the end, and then just had a few gratuitous seconds. It didn't add anything to the movie and wasn't really necessary. I'm sure there was plenty of foul language, but I can't remember any of it at the moment. Logic Holes It isn't clear how the child made it into their house in the beginning of the movie. The doors aren't open, and you'd think they'd hear a window being broken. People are standing out on their lawns and watching neighbors attacking each other and the world going to hell in general. You'd think they'd run inside and bolt the door or something. Anna loses consciousness early on in the film as the opening credits play and the world goes to hell. Its a bit unbelievable that Anna doesn't get eaten during this time and that things deteriorate as much as they do in just a couple of hours. And then there's the normal zombie movie problems. How do the zombies know who's dead and who's alive? How do the zombies always manage to home in on where the survivors are at? Etc, etc, etc. How does it match up to the 1978 version? This question is a bit tougher. Should you see the new version if you liked the old one fine? The 78 version had a lot of 70s societal trappings in it. I mean, you can't watch the movie and not know it was made in the 70s. But for that reason, the movie had a stronger focus on relationships between the characters and it also had a tinge of hope. The new version is much bleaker in this respect. The characters seem much less naive, like much of our world today. They know that things are really bad and they are all probably going to die. As far as they are concerned, its really just a question of when the zombies will overrun them, not if. Perhaps this will be what dates this movie in another 26 years. This new version focuses on the situation at hand and not very much on the survivors. Maybe I've got the wrong movie, but I'm pretty sure the original had experts on television talking about the situation. As the days wear on, the experts become increasingly hostile until they finally start exchanging gunfire on air (IIRC). The new version could really have used something like this. As it is, the televisions are not seen again after the first few mall scenes, and aside from the deterioration in the opening credits, serve little or no purpose. The zombies are probably the biggest difference though. The 78 version had slow plodding creatures. The only reason to really fear them was if you were careless or managed to get cornered by several of them. The new version takes its cue from more recent zombie films, where the recently dead can move just as quick as the living, fully capable of running and acts that require strength. The zombies in the original mostly just plodded around until they found a survivor and then moved in for the kill. They didn't seem capable of even simple thoughts and they certainly didn't work together. The new version has them hunting their prey in packs. They still aren't capable of significant thought, but they are definitely a shade smarter. For example, at one point a zombie actually manages to realize he's holding an explosive. It takes him a few seconds, but he definitely figures it out. Summary This is a fairly scary zombie flick. Its got quite a bit of gore and some sex. It focuses more on the situation at hand and less on its characters. Its an enjoyable movie, but it doesn't have a memorable performance. There wasn't any noticeably bad acting. I'd have to suggest you see this movie at matinee prices. Remember to stick around during the credits. They are interspliced with a few more brief scenes. Even if you forget, the first scene is only a few seconds in, so... I'd give it 2.5 out of 4 stars. ---Evil Peer |
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Jarukoth  IRRATIONAL EXUBERENCE!!1! Level: 79  Posts: 5/3194 EXP: 4402011 For next: 177456 Since: 03-17-04 From: New Jersey, U.S.A. Shoes: Yes. Since last post: 8 days Last activity: 1 day |
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| Mmm...Reanimated corpses...*drools* This would seem like the movie all of my friends would be dying to see the night it comes out. Oddly enough, only my zombie-loving friend and I are doing that. Oh well... |
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