Zombies are once again your metaphor for whatever, and in this case, it's more like Aliens than Romero's original - in a good way.

Rating: 9/10 (9 September 2005)

*****SLIGHT SPOILERS***** Watched both the cinema cut and now have the Director's version on DVD, this film probably has 1000 comments after 18 months but having watched it three times since buying the DVD one thing struck me...for all its homages to the original Dawn of the Dead with the cameos etc, this movie actually owes much more to Aliens (1986) in its speed, execution, and the fact there's a bigger group of people, not to mention of course the running Zombies of 28 Days Later (2003), itself a heavy "borrowing" of Day of The Dead (1985), but whose $45million US gross allowed this remake to exist.
It's not a question of thinking the original or the remake is the superior version...Romero's Dawn of the Dead 1978 is the "Alien" of the two films, slower, more intelligent, more thought-provoking and with an attempt to actually show you a six-month stretch locked in a shopping mall with a 40-minute second act which modern filmmakers just don't do anymore. Snyder's Dawn of The Dead 2004 is Aliens, (or Platoon in a shopping mall) an action film with Zombies in it but the Zombies are a metaphor for whatever you want and not what Romero told you as with the 70s film.
The "rules" have been set up, but in comes a director who focuses on action and gives a bigger group of people better aim and the hope of a better chance (though that also means a larger group of people to bite the dust). In spite of the mall scenes dominating the second Act as with the original, you get a greater sense of scale with the new film although no mention of the internet except in one of the DVD Extras. One of the rules of the original is also dropped. I prefer the Dawn of the Dead novel to the older film, which only takes me 2 hours to read.
As for the director's cut...some scenes I plain couldn't remember but on having them pointed out, I was glad they were gone when I watched the film in the cinema - I don't care how they got into the mall, the film language did that for me with just two good shots cut together, rather than the "where's the door" nonsense. Likewise with the "littlest Zombie" scene (fans know which one I'm talking about) - again, in the cinema, we saw as much as we needed to know and the faster cutaway was a lot better to end it.
***SPOILER***I don't know if it's classed as a blooper when one character at a crucial moment, cannot open a door but then when it's time for him to check out, the zombies have absolutely no trouble - that's the one fault I could find with the film and I have had to watch it four times to find that, so I will put that down to nitpicking. Besides, Universal have my money now!
The ending? Speculative and the whole (surviving) cast were signed to the sequel, as their careers don't seem to have been damaged in the same way as the 1970s cast, there wouldn't be anything wrong with the sequel to this remake coming around again - even if ***SPOILER AGAIN*** the end had shades of Deep Rising to it, mixed with The Blair Witch Project in the use of DV. It's clever that you're seeing a different side of a character just through clips - or maybe just reconfirming his reputation. One of the DVD Extras continues the use of the DV Camera technique and it works extremely well.
As a means of passing time while waiting for Land of The Dead which doesn't hit UK screens until the 23rd September, the Dawn Of The Dead remake is a great action movie with zombies in it, and made by a fan for open-minded fans of Romero's films and a new generation which doesn't put Romero's trilogy on a pedestal and wants a faster film. You could watch either version according to your mood. It's certainly not the disaster some of the posters here have made out to be, the only problem is, can you rent the cinema cut where you are? I've only found the director's one in the shops. Wait for the second UK edition and you'll probably be able to buy both.