what? another movie review?
yup, you got it. just 'cause i'm bored. not saying i have good taste in movies. i usually try to be unbiased... except for batman... i'm sorry, thems be some good story tellin.
i've also gotten more time lately to watch movies. i've actually tried to be busy these past few days. all i've been doing for the most part is watching my neices and nephews during the day and playing heroclix by night. which breht, you may want to go to hcrealms or join the heroclix community because a lot of people usually give some really good strategy and advice. some of them even clarify the rules.
anyways, enough about that...
George A. Romero's latest zombie film wasn't as bad as the trailers made it out to be. first off, let's look at his previous zombie movies:
NightOTLD: Black and white and the first to introduce zombies(as cannibals and dying due to a blow to the head kind) to film history. Romero had help writing this from his buddy John A. Russo. Russo probably played a big part in writing it seeing how the dialogue from this movie far outweighed LOTD. The visual feel of the movie was shot so dramatically, it added a hightend tension element to scenes.
DawnOTD: color i believe? the original i'm talking about here, not the crap-ass remake. from what i've read of the plot on imdb it seemed like a weird mix between NOTLD and mad maxx. a pretty interesting concept. I like the idea that there is still this huge thing that can destroy people and it isn't necessarily the zombies. the zombies just bring it out.
DayOTD: plot doesn't sound as good. group of scientist trying to figure out what makes a zombie tick. kind of like 28 days later, but i'm guessing a far better ending? this movie is pretty much the down hill slope of romero's "masterpiece."
LAND OF THE DEAD:
This film starts off at a time when zombies have already existed for quite some time. I think this is the first movie to show how long zombies have been there. i'm guessing about 5-10 years tops. The entire race of zombies are getting a little smarter as well. the way he goes about it is actually quite interesting. In the trailer, you'll think that all the zombies are smart... not exactly. There's an "alpha" zombie that basically tells what the others to do. sort of like if kindergarteners are playing and one realizes that a jungle gym can be used to climb on and the others follow suit.
the dialogue in this movie is a bit weird. in some areas, it really shows some great character development and in others, it just sucks. there was a very hardcore scene where one guy gets bitten and goes ahead and shoots himself in the head. the one liner's in this movie kind of bring it down. but then, you're not really watching a zombie movie for good dialgue, now are you?
personally i enjoy a zombie movie that showes great conflict within the group of people. how there is still this human vice that still flaws the living. racism, poverty, ect. zombies are these things that doesn't discriminate and attacks both sides. in a certain sense, they are the good guys at times, eating away at the humans who don't even deserve to carry that name.
back on track. they way they go about destrying the zombie infestation is well planned and coordinated. the society is actually quite believable within the walls. the rich are still rich and the poor still live in the streets. the underground streetlife though was kind of unnecessary to see. the random boobs and make out sessions involving lesbians were pointless. there were a couple things in this movie that were put in just because they are in every horror movie you see today (excluding the ones with japaneese influence). for instance the quiet but loud noise all of a sudden scare, the nudity/sex, the asshole character that you don't mind seeing going out pretty badly, and the hilarious gore.
the movie was pretty predictable at times. the only thing that really kind of surprised me was the ending, because i didn't think they were going to end it... that early? i definitly thought they should have put more into the ending.
ok, so i've talked about the visuals, the dialogue, plot, and flow, now time for the sound. like every horror movie, it has to have the loud noise every time something pops up into screen. they didn't use a lot of stock sounds that i recognized. possibly some for the electric fence, but that was about it. the soundtrack was alright, nothing too noticeable.
SUMMARY: the final numbers
acting/casting: 5
It wasn't bad... wasn't great either.
script/plot: 4.5
Interesting concept... and that's about it.
action: 6
lots of guts being eaten.
visual feel: 5
some signature shots but nothing really else
SFX: 5
you can hear the munching and the squishing of intestine and that's all you need to hear
soundtrack: 4
nothing really stood out... only set the mood to get louder (meaning scarier)
final rating - 5
It was okay, not Romero's best. Better as a rental (because the special features may be pretty neat to see). Save your money for War of the Worlds/something better.
i've also gotten more time lately to watch movies. i've actually tried to be busy these past few days. all i've been doing for the most part is watching my neices and nephews during the day and playing heroclix by night. which breht, you may want to go to hcrealms or join the heroclix community because a lot of people usually give some really good strategy and advice. some of them even clarify the rules.
anyways, enough about that...
George A. Romero's latest zombie film wasn't as bad as the trailers made it out to be. first off, let's look at his previous zombie movies:
NightOTLD: Black and white and the first to introduce zombies(as cannibals and dying due to a blow to the head kind) to film history. Romero had help writing this from his buddy John A. Russo. Russo probably played a big part in writing it seeing how the dialogue from this movie far outweighed LOTD. The visual feel of the movie was shot so dramatically, it added a hightend tension element to scenes.
DawnOTD: color i believe? the original i'm talking about here, not the crap-ass remake. from what i've read of the plot on imdb it seemed like a weird mix between NOTLD and mad maxx. a pretty interesting concept. I like the idea that there is still this huge thing that can destroy people and it isn't necessarily the zombies. the zombies just bring it out.
DayOTD: plot doesn't sound as good. group of scientist trying to figure out what makes a zombie tick. kind of like 28 days later, but i'm guessing a far better ending? this movie is pretty much the down hill slope of romero's "masterpiece."
LAND OF THE DEAD:
This film starts off at a time when zombies have already existed for quite some time. I think this is the first movie to show how long zombies have been there. i'm guessing about 5-10 years tops. The entire race of zombies are getting a little smarter as well. the way he goes about it is actually quite interesting. In the trailer, you'll think that all the zombies are smart... not exactly. There's an "alpha" zombie that basically tells what the others to do. sort of like if kindergarteners are playing and one realizes that a jungle gym can be used to climb on and the others follow suit.
the dialogue in this movie is a bit weird. in some areas, it really shows some great character development and in others, it just sucks. there was a very hardcore scene where one guy gets bitten and goes ahead and shoots himself in the head. the one liner's in this movie kind of bring it down. but then, you're not really watching a zombie movie for good dialgue, now are you?
personally i enjoy a zombie movie that showes great conflict within the group of people. how there is still this human vice that still flaws the living. racism, poverty, ect. zombies are these things that doesn't discriminate and attacks both sides. in a certain sense, they are the good guys at times, eating away at the humans who don't even deserve to carry that name.
back on track. they way they go about destrying the zombie infestation is well planned and coordinated. the society is actually quite believable within the walls. the rich are still rich and the poor still live in the streets. the underground streetlife though was kind of unnecessary to see. the random boobs and make out sessions involving lesbians were pointless. there were a couple things in this movie that were put in just because they are in every horror movie you see today (excluding the ones with japaneese influence). for instance the quiet but loud noise all of a sudden scare, the nudity/sex, the asshole character that you don't mind seeing going out pretty badly, and the hilarious gore.
the movie was pretty predictable at times. the only thing that really kind of surprised me was the ending, because i didn't think they were going to end it... that early? i definitly thought they should have put more into the ending.
ok, so i've talked about the visuals, the dialogue, plot, and flow, now time for the sound. like every horror movie, it has to have the loud noise every time something pops up into screen. they didn't use a lot of stock sounds that i recognized. possibly some for the electric fence, but that was about it. the soundtrack was alright, nothing too noticeable.
SUMMARY: the final numbers
acting/casting: 5
It wasn't bad... wasn't great either.
script/plot: 4.5
Interesting concept... and that's about it.
action: 6
lots of guts being eaten.
visual feel: 5
some signature shots but nothing really else
SFX: 5
you can hear the munching and the squishing of intestine and that's all you need to hear
soundtrack: 4
nothing really stood out... only set the mood to get louder (meaning scarier)
final rating - 5
It was okay, not Romero's best. Better as a rental (because the special features may be pretty neat to see). Save your money for War of the Worlds/something better.