What a vast disappointment ****Spoilers!!!****

Rating: 4/10 (22 March 2004)

I hardly know where to begin with this movie. I will start off by saying that I *did* go in to see this film with a completely open mind and will in no way compare this "Dawn" to the original "Dawn." I will simply state what I felt was a real letdown about this movie.
While the direction and the characters were very well done, the plot and the logic for some of the scenes left much to be desired.
I will start with the flashes of world outbreaks of violence and other such scenes at the beginning. If this was supposed to signify the spread of the virus, (a stretch) then they needed to obtain other film that was either a little more vague or produce their own as inexpensively as possible. As it was, what they showed looked like a typical night on CNN.
Now, about the movie itself...the first thing that I found vastly disturbing about this movie is the "I don't know factor." While in the first "Dawn of the Dead" (which in my opinion was one of the best horror movies ever made) didn't give you a clear reason as to *why* the dead were getting up and walking, this "Dawn" did a much larger injustice to the viewer by touching on what could have been construed as a reason for the virus, but not elaborating. The movie begins in a hospital with a doctor and nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) talking about a patient with a virus. When the nurse goes to find the patient later, he is in ICU, with no clear reason as to why, when he wasn't in serious condition when he was brought in. Then she simply leaves the hospital and that is that. Nothing more. Did this patient start the virus?
The next thing that I found totally disappointing was the in-continuity of the dying. As with all zombie movies, if you are bit, you die, it is just a matter of time.
Now, the first woman who is brought to the mall after the people show up in the panel truck, she had been bitten (no clear time is given, could have been days, could have been hours, I am *assuming* hours) and she was dying. She died, came back, etc. Now, later on in the movie, Andy (the character that Ving Rhames befriends who is on top of his gun shop a ways away from the mall, and they "talk" via binoculars, and reading boards that they write messages on) gets bitten while trying to get something to eat and in mere minutes he is dead! Is this supposed to reflect the virus becoming more serious and stronger than it was originally? Maybe, but once again, that is a *big* stretch to ask the movie viewer to make when the writers gave no indication of such a progression. Now, the pregnant lady with the bite that looked more like a scratch and it took days and possibly a week(once again, no time line is readily established) for her to die, that made sense, as she didn't have a "bite" mark, it was more like a deep gash made by a tooth.
Now, as for the rest of the movie and either the editors', the writers' or the director's short sightedness, I will touch upon that here.
Now, to start...when the movie begins, the neighbor girl, Vivian comes into the house owned by Ana and her husband, as she and Ana are obviously friends...but *how* did she get into their house? It was the next morning, and Ana and her husband were asleep in their beds! When you see the door later, there is no obvious sign of trauma to it, meaning that Vivian walked right in. I don't think so.
Now, on to the next scene. Vivian kills Ana's husband and he dies, then comes back and goes after Ana. She gets out of the house and goes to her car, where her dead husband proceeds to jump on the hood and nearly put his hand through the windshield of the car. OK, if *he* by himself was able to nearly break through Ana's windshield, then why couldn't an entire host of the undead break through people's doors, yet it seemed like none were. People *seemed* to be safe in their houses. That was never made clear either.
Next is Andy, the poor gun shop owner, who while is one hell of a shot, he takes no provisions to his rooftop with him. Now, growing up around guns, hunting and being quite a shot myself, I can tell you that owning a gun shop in times of the undead walking would be quite handy but...there are things in gun shops, that not all, but *most* gun shops carry, that are not just guns. Most gun shops cater to hunters in one form or another, carrying *some* camping supplies and MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)or protein bars at the very least. I have grown up around enough hunters to know, that when you are watching for that perfect buck, while sitting 20 feet up in a tree, you are not going to jump down and take time to hit McDonalds for a burger and fries. Now, why Andy didn't have *some* foodstuffs is beyond me. He nearly starves to death on top of a roof and then dies anyway while trying to get food.
Now as for the end of the movie...does everyone die or not? I watched and watched and absolutely could not figure out if everyone dies or if they are still trying to get the zombies away from them so they can get back to the boat and get away. Top that off with the unnecessary tit shots (not just guys watch horror movies you know?) and I just think that this movie could have been so much more than it was.