Hit and miss affair really

Rating: 5/10 (19 March 2004)

The first ten minutes of this film promise so much more than it actually delivers. Barely bothering to set up a static normal life premise, the film kicks right in with a loud and larger than life action opening - underlined by the late use of credits. If the film had followed through on this premise, it would have delivered a ninety minute, unpretentious horror shlock, one that would have done Romero much more justice than what is actually produced.
However, it is overly ambitious for a film that has to overcome so many initial obstacles (i.e. 1) its a horror film - often looked down on by serious cinemagoers and 2) its a remake of a horror film - surely representative of a lack of new ideas?). Sometimes it appears to be encroaching a critique of contemporary society, and at other times it seems to be commenting on the last thirty years of horror films (without paying too close attention to detail, I picked up on nods to The Exorcist, It's Alive! and the Blair Witch Project). All of these potentially subversive topics are all undermined by a seemingly ridiculous bit of pointless nationalism as the remaining protagonists sail off into the sunset, framed with the stars and stripes.
However, the film isn't without its interesting experiments - self-reflexively juxtaposing different film making styles by switching between a standard Hollywood feel and digital video (in the same vein as Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later). This pioneering is interesting, yet mildly shoddy - a more skilled director would have pulled it off seamlessly, whilst Dawn of the Dead wears its scars on its arm.
Personally, I felt that a straight forward horror flick would have been better in these circumstances - and let any other motives be expressed unconsciously, a technique that Romero mastered in.
5/10