At last, someone's got it right...

Rating: 10/10 (29 March 2004)

If you haven't guessed already, I can't sing the praises of this movie enough - at last, a zombie flick that is two very important things.
1) Not a B-Movie; 2) An absolutely cracking A-Movie.
Having just got back from the cinema still amazed with the quality of this film I don't know where to begin. The good acting, the spot on cast, the refreshingly unbearable scares, the "Paul Verhovenesque" completely unnecessary but compellingly disgusting gore, the almost uniquely un-Hollywood ending... It's all there.
What is even more amazing about this movie is that it's [re]creators have also managed to tap into what will surely be the unanimous expectations of the target audience. There are no unwanted and unnecessary messages of family values, cheese, cuddles, and love will conquer all, which is fabulous because it leaves far more room for classic lines like, "Tell him to shoot Burt Reynolds" and then the ketchup-tastic head shot that follows. Now you have to admit, that line really can't fit perfectly in to many movies but in the ever consistent mood of Dawn of the Dead, it's right at home.
Ving Rhames is easily the second best thing in the movie (second only to the fast moving, constantly hungry and occasionally limbless zombies) once he actually starts speaking, and it is welcoming that Sarah Polley's Ana is as composed as she is subtle which is great for the audience because for a change the lead female character is not screaming every 30 seconds because, oh my god, someone is trying to bite me whilst drooling oodles of blood and saliva all over my nice white t-shirt. again!
Her character is only clichéd and therefore flawed once throughout the campaign. As the genius of the group, she is the first to work out that when people are bitten they become very ugly, very quickly and develop a penchant for biting others. However she is still inexplicably opposed to killing the aforementioned soon-to-be cannibals. I don't know about you but whilst she was still talking through the morale dilemma of killing would-be zombies before they turned, I'd already be choosing which sponge I was going to use to clean my shoes after removing my trusty shot gun from a red blob that used to be somebody's face. Maybe that's just me though. us Sagittarians are very impulsive.
Since we all have limited attention spans and I'm mindful of not giving too much away about what happens in the move, I'll wrap up by saying that those of you out there who enjoyed this film's original version and have gone on to enjoy films like Starship Troopers, Robocop, Resident Evil etc., then this is definitely the film for you. And even if the above are not representatives of your particular favourite genre, consider this. I went to the cinema with four friends tonight, one of whom stated before paying his money for the ticket, `I don't know why I'm bothering, I hate [rubbish] like this'. He was the one laughing the loudest and coming closest to vomiting throughout the film, and all of us came out saying, `how many Oscars has this been nominated for'..? Sarcastically - yes, but if it was nominated, it'd get my vote. The only thing that could have made it better was Steven Segal instead of Burt Reynolds but you can't have everything.