Instant classic

Rating: 9/10 (22 March 2004)

I was not immediately thrilled at the concept of a DotD remake. The original seemed pretty much complete in itself, and remakes are lame.
Then I noticed Sarah Polley in it. Now, for a talented actress, she has been in almost nothing south of the border since The Sweet Hereafter, and routinely turns down roles. She simply doesn't do bad movies, and didn't here. I found that intriguing enough to realize this was probably not a standard remake, and I bet right.
And it lived up to its billing. This movie hits the ground running and doesn't stop. The first five minutes is perfectly paced and hits with sledgehammer force. I knew I was in good hands when Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" played over the opening credits. Incidentally, I thought the opening and closing credits were comparable to another favorite set of credits, the ones in Se7en.
There were only a couple direct homages to the original Romero film, one of them a setup for the shot from the poster of the original DotD movie. I won't spoil this by naming the actor, but I think you'll see it coming. It's an intriguing twist on that moment.
I won't comment on the obvious differences in the original, or the post-ironic conceit of zombies in a shopping mall in 2004. (Zombies in a shopping mall! Just like real life!)
My gripes are very minor, and involve somewhat overdoing a few camera techniques that were also overdone in 28 Days Later. However, one area where the film excelled was in pacing. The violence was perfectly choreographed. (Also, I want to marry Sarah Polley, but I'll save that subject for somewhere else.)
I have seen reviews complaining of shallowness or repetitiveness, but I think such comments completely miss the point of a zombie movie, which is the existential horror of lurching sameness, and the complete lack of any moral complexity. Zombies are simply insensate evil, and must be destroyed. The carnage does not involve human beings, nor villains, simply nonliving evil that must be destroyed. Unlike the humans killed in a Dirty Harry movie or a war movie, zombies have no intrinsic value whatsoever. There are no shades of gray, and no guilt in enjoying the slaughter.
As such, the only way to judge a film is how it hits you in the stomach. This film had me cringing back in my seat from the first few minutes, and never let up. I have to commend the opening, and how, like the zombies themselves, it moved fast, with a wonderful lack of stupid expository comments, explanations, or meaning. Without hesitation, it simply jumps headfirst into the gaping maw of horror.
In short, it is completely without any redeeming social value.
And that is how it should be.
This is an instant classic, and the crystallization of all zombie movies to date.