Kinda sucked ...

Rating: 4/10 (14 May 2005)

I was looking forward to seeing this film. Missed it at the theaters and then I didn't get around to renting it until recently. Caught the first ten minutes of the movie when they showed it on TV- great promotional idea for this movie (bad promotional idea for Elektra though, but that's another film altogether ...)
I personally didn't get the sense that this phenomenon was global, just that this was a small town gone bad. I do like the opening credit sequence with Cash's vocals and all- very cool! Loved the chaos that ensued at the beginning, loved CJ and the security mall a$$holes once they got inside. After that it become a bit muddled and boring. CJ's character becomes a likable guy for some reason which really sucked because he played such a great bad guy! THe film went from being ... well .. semi-serious to comedic from moment to moment. The Mikhi Pfier sequence didn't really have a good payoff for me. And the single worst part of the movie is when the red head girl risk her life and their rescue mission to save a damn dog!!! WTF? Just like when Rippley saved the cat in Alien, this is a terrible cliché that should not be brought back! Horrible, horrible.
Of course, things pick up towards the end and it becomes fun to watch once again. But you know ... the stuff in the middle was just plain terrible.
Sarah Polley was really great! So was Ving Rhames. I liked him but i'm not sure why, I guess I just like Ving and that's good enough for me. I enjoyed the zombies as well. Especially Polley's bf that guy just wouldn't stop! I won't compare to the source material, even though I am a Romero and zombie fan but all in all it just wasn't that great of a film. It's all pretty disappointing in the end.