Awesome! But not too faithful to the original.

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2004)

This tremendously entertaining picture strikes a great balance between scares, apocalyptic bleakness, and violent action. The bravura opening sequence of utter chaos leads into a more subdued, but intermittently intensely violent and gruesome narrative. The movie never sells itself out to sappiness while retaining some of the original's macabre sense of humor, especially in the "Burt Reynolds" scene. The leads are strong, if not deeply developed; things are happening too quickly to delve deeper into these character's backgrounds, but we still care about them, because each of them, down to the gun-shop owner, possesses a humanity and individuality that sets them apart from the brain-thirsty hordes.
Elements of the original are retained, from the secure ennui of the mall to the final journey into the unknown, but this is really its own movie, with the intensity ratcheted up to satisfy audiences used to the rapid-fire thrills of a video game. The editing and camerawork are reminiscent of _Seven_ and _28 Days Later_, but fit the subject matter perfectly. An exceptional genre picture.