It was OK....but

Rating: 5/10 (15 December 2005)

First I want to point out that I have never seen the original Dawn of the Dead. The main reason for this is that zombie movies just are not my thing. I don't have anything against them, I just think that if you seen one you seen them all. Now I will give kudos to this movie for having one of the best opening acts that I can remember. The first ten minutes of the movie are excellent. Fast paced and shocking, it really gets you on the edge of your seat.
However, we get past that and start introducing characters. I like Ving Rhames and you knew what you were going to get out of his character. Sarah Polley does a good job and Jake Weber is OK. But the other characters are annoying. In fact this is one of the main weaknesses of the movie. Not only are there too many characters, there are too many that you really could care less about. They are not only unbelievable(the character of CJ the most glaring) but they actually seem to drag the rest down with them.
The second weakness is the middle of the movie. After a frantic first ten minutes, the movie grinds to a halt. Instead of using this down time to provide us with some exposition that actually would advance the movie's plot, we get a sequence of scenes of the cast frolicking in the mall. What happened to everyone? What was the government or military response? And frankly this leads to some unintentional plot holes. Am I to believe that a handful of common people can hole up in a mall seemingly indefinitely, while the highly skilled and trained military gets wiped out in a matter of days? And the much maligned baby scene/scenario is just pointless. What did the father think they were going to do? Keep a zombie and zombie baby around for them to munch on them? Speaking of that, aren't zombie supposed to be flesh eaters? If this is the case why are there so many. Surely some zombies were eating one another.
Finally, the end of the movie is kind of a let down. Suddenly, though somewhat understandably they decide they need to escape to an island via a boat. And they decide to convert a couple of buses into tanks. OK so far. But then we decide we need to get the character across the street some food? Why not just wait until you make a run for it in the armored buses. And why does that dumb girl go and get the dog? And then why in the world do they feel compelled to rescue her? And how does CJ suddenly become one of the gang? I could go on and on. But the single most annoying part of the ending is what happens afterward embedded in the closing credits. After spending two hours mildly rooting for annoying people, I am rewarded for my time investment to discover that they get zombified anyway? What was the point then?
In summary, a really good opening sequence is followed by a lot of yakking and pointless plot threads. The closing chase scene is OK, but by this time who cared. And the "ending" of the movie was just plain over the top. I was left with the feeling of why I bothered. If I ever see it on again I will make certain I catch the opening act, but will do something else with the next 90 minutes of my life.