Great fun which does the original reasonable justice

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2004)

Taking an older classic into the modern day, Dawn of the Dead is a more than effective remake with its own charm.
Quite a few years have passed since the original Dawn of the Dead. In my own humble opinion it was actually the weakest of all 3, but the majority seem to disagree with this, citing it as the best.
Universal agreed with this consensus and commissioned this remake, bringing a slightly new angle and characters into a similar situation as previously set. As with the original, DOTD is set in a shopping mall for the most part, and sees the protagonists trying to survive the onslaught of zombies in an apocalyptic environment.
Sarah Polley is Ana, a nurse whose partner is attacked by a member of the undead in the family home. When he, after being killed, regains 'life' and goes for her she escapes and encounters Kenneth, a cop along with a group of 3 other survivors.
Together they go to the mall and set up sanctuary along with power-crazed security guards who initially have them under their control. The rest of the movie unfolds from this point onwards as all the party endeavour to remain alive.
The acting isn't expected to be A-class but it is more than decent to be quite honest. With Rhames, as Kenneth, you're getting a presence on screen like few others - he *makes* you pay attention, and that's something an actor cannot buy - he either has it or not. Polley is decent enough as Ana, doing an acceptable job of being a Ripley style character without quite stealing the show. Jake Weber, as Michael, is pretty decent as well and it's commendable than even though Rhames is a heck of a powerhouse, he never really overshadows Weber.
Other characters are reasonably well played too, and it's a testament to the improvement in the standard of Hollywood in this type of film that even the *relatively* peripheral characters are played well.
The special effects are more than worth a mention as well, with some very exciting moments and some truly awe-inspiring moments aiding the film's narrative extremely well. The only weakness is the truly awful looking CGI helicopter. At least I hope it's CGI otherwise something went badly wrong with the way it was filmed.
The movie, naturally, is a gore fest far in excess of the appalling Resident Evil, and more akin to its true father trilogy. Using modern standards on those old gory but unconvincing effects really smarts well, and to those with weaker stomachs this film would be hard to watch.
The direction cannot be faulted - it pushes along the story and there's always plenty of action in each scene to keep interest.
The plot itself was never *that* strong, and that's not changed here. It's relatively peripheral such is the claustrophobic nature of the movie, and is more a tale of survival than an epic yarn.
Sure, the oldies are always 'the best' but in this remake they've done a good job of making a movie worthy of the name.