In an age where everything — cars, information, adolescence, theatrical release windows — has been sped up to a startling degree, it stands to reason that even the pop-cultural symbol of torpidity, the zombie, would find its inner Carl Lewis. But while there has recently been a rash of films featuring zombies capable of running an undeniably fleeter 40 than possible in previous incarnations, it's important to give credit where credit is due by remembering that the sprinting dead concept was invented more than two decades ago by schlockmeister supreme Umberto Lenzi in Nightmare City (1980). What's more, his zombies could operate firearms, too. Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead has none of that film's ludicrous ingenuity, and, at worst, no particular reason for being. But it does gain a good deal of forward momentum in its slam-bang early going, which, for a while, goes a long way toward concealing the movie's thorough pointlessness. In fact, the film is never better than in its opening ten minutes of expertly staged mayhem wherein Ana (Sarah Polley), a young, overworked nurse, returns home after a grueling day of work, goes to bed with her boyfriend, and wakes up to a bona fide zombie holocaust. Her boyfriend is quickly, brutally dispatched and, just as quickly, joins the ranks of the undead in pursuit of her and every other sentient living thing. Without pause, Ana flees the suburbs, encountering sundry visions of hell before crashing her car and getting rescued by Kenneth (Ving Rhames), a behemoth of a man with little use for words or the company of others. Nonetheless, they band together, meeting up with another cluster of strangers along the way before reaching the shopping mall in which they hope to take refuge. Unfortunately, the complex is already home to a small group of gun-toting redneck security guards who'd rather not share their relative good fortune any further. Though they're soon overpowered, matters are quickly complicated by the arrival of more survivors, some of whom are wounded and close to death. Realizing that, without preemptive action, there will soon be zombies amongst them, impossibly tough decisions must be made which threaten to upset the tenuous harmony barely keeping these diverse individuals from each others' throats.Read full review
Given that horror films, and zombie films in particular, are what they are, remakes are usually abyssmal. The update of Dawn of the Dead was a pleasant surprise. As a fan of the original, I expected this to be wretched. Instead, it's a different look at similar themes for a new generation who would be turned off by the extremely dated look of the first Dawn of the Dead. The only solid plot element shared is the mall--other than that, the characters are new and modern and have growth arcs. You hate some, they die. You like some, they die. The only thing that gave me trouble initially was that we were asked to put ourselves in a world where no zombie film was ever made; when the characters are bewildered by what is happening and have to figure out how to kill zombies for the first time, seasoned zombage vets will roll their eyes. Take that into account watching this and it's not a bad entry into the genre. Top grade actors ensure decent performances and some of the cinematography is super. If you like Jake Weber from TV's Medium, especially take a look at this film. He plays,well, he plays Jake Weber. But so very well. And Ving Rhames of course plays what he usually does, to perfection. Sarah Polley also puts in a solid turn as the sort of character you'd expect but the side characters really spice up the basic ensemble nicely. Dawn '04 takes itself fairly seriously but it does it with decent grace and at least never insults you.Read full review
THere are SOOOOO many Zombie movie out there that They are all becoming so similar it's just getting boring to watch them. But this movie had Characters in it you could enjoy to watch. Such as the Cop, The security Officer or the Best Buy T.v salesman. Just rooting for them to survive kept me hooked. This movie also had many funny moments that give you a chuckle. The only thing wrong with this movie is the beginning. How did everyone START becoming zombies? The whole beginning was a total mess. But this movie still has enough to keep you watching the whole movie. SO go buy it it's chesper then renting!!
This remake is entertaining. I did see it when it first came out on the big screen. It did hold my attention. I guess I would call myself a George Romero Zombie purist. Zombies should not run! Fast Zombies suck! Also compared to the original where you had 4 main characters, this movie had too many to count. For the most part I wanted to see them all get eaten alive. Some were truely annoying. I also did not see the need for a sex sceen(although brief) in a zombie movie. Had to see this movie because of its name. It did not entertain as much as the original. I would not buy the DVD but I would watch it on cable again if I had nothing else to do.
Terrible quality, half the time my Blu-ray player can’t read the disc, when it does play it looks to be a copy of a copy or something. Kinda fuzzy like your at a cheap movie theatre. I wouldn’t recommend.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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