Undead Remake

Rating: 4/10 (24 April 2020)

Remakes prove that even when a film is done and dead, it may be reanimated and, like the undead here, oft in a more sickly form. If you're looking for improved zombie make-up and effects and more frills in the flesh-eating and head-shooting action, this "Dawn of the Dead" may be for you, but if you expect a more compelling reason for one of the classics of the subgenre, George A. Romero's 1978 original version, to be remade, this is a pretty pointless endeavor. Between the additional cluttering of characters in this second iteration and continual set pieces of the living fighting the ghouls mixed with episodes of the living yelling at each other, one may be forgiven for not noticing the utter lack of comic relief, social commentary, or merely even trust in the audience to piece things together relative to Romero's film.
The after-credits sequence here is a good example of how nothing is left to the imagination. With Romero, we may wonder what ultimately happens to the remaining heroes. Director Zack Snyder and writer James Gunn, instead, prefer to keep everything simplistic and tidy--something that also served them well with superhero franchises. At least, I suppose, this final sequence involves a character video taping it, which is rather unexpectedly reflexive. TV is also employed earlier on as surveillance and, as Romero did, for largely unnecessary news broadcasts. Regardless, there's also no insinuation, as with Romero, that the living are like zombies in their unreflective materialism, as well as with the warring with each other. Heck, the remake even goes to pains to explain the mechanics of zombies--head shots, effects of bites, etc.--as though we aren't already overly familiar with said conventions.
It's no wonder the gang here is so eager to get on with what seems to be a suicide mission for the climax; they have little apparent reason to live in the first place. Families die. Jobs are gone. The only guy from a church is an atheist, while others consider an alternative worse than death. And chess, sex, shooting and smoking only entertain one for so long. Romero's group had lives inside the mall worth protecting and appreciated their bounty. This gang, on the other hand, just seem to be looking for a diversion to pass the time and overly willing to risk their lives for an adrenaline rush.