Zack Snyder, 2004
7.5
not a bad flick. not a bad flick at all. forget all the Resident Evil and other hollywood crap. this will never take the Palme d'or but it's definitely a good flick; director's Zack Snyder's first. and any film that gets Sarah Polley is miles ahead by me. i couldn't shake the frustration, though, that the mainstream audience who flocked to see this zombie flick wouldn't even know what an outstanding actress they were watching running around (btw, that's not her only function. thank god). the first act was amazingly top-notch and i actually got goosebumps and screamed at one point! (although, not because of a scare. very weird moment; you'll see) but then there's this - the incredible efforts of the atrociously bad '50s doomsday music to skewer the mood of the film. but the first act is strong enough to make you look pass that. but then the script turns into an -almost- hollywood remake by asking us, sometimes, to believe in stupid character motivations and poor judgement. i just hung around for the action and surprisingly strong performances - from Sarah, Ving Rhames (still love the voice), and -surpringly- almost-unknown Jake Weber. i don't know who this guy is but he gave one honest and grounded performance. btw, this film, like most 'horror movies' today, has much more in common with an action film than real horror. there are some tense sequences, but it's mostly a (good) shoot 'em up, 'let's get out before the zombies from 28 Days Later gets us'-type of film. the first ten minutes, though, and most of the acting, definitely make it worth the price of a rental.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:46 PM
