Typical Video Game Movie

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2007)

Typical movie based on a video game: sparse plot, little to no character development, terrific special effects, lots of blood and gore, and a loud heavy metal soundtrack. Great if the viewer expects nothing more than a video game transferred to film. Disappointing if the viewer expects any use of imagination to expand the video game plot in said transfer. The female leads are physically strong heroines as opposed to whiny, sniveling damsels in distress (definitely a plus). Yet these "strong female heroines" demonstrate very little in the intellectual or common sense departments. Of course, neither do the male leads, so I can't complain too profusely. I enjoy zombie films because zombies do make fun movie monsters in an ugly and disgusting sort of way. Unfortunately, I do not consider them to be very scary or threatening except in large numbers. One on one they are a minor threat (don't get bitten or scratched) and are no match for an average human being who could out-think and out-run them with very little difficulty. The whole point of a movie with zombies as the main obstacle is to be gory, disgusting, cannibalistic, and provide a high body count. This particular film succeeds on all those counts!