best..zombie..movie..ever..

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2002)

I do have one criticism - I have (as far as I know) perfect hearing, so I don't appreciate having my eardrums ripped to shreds by what is easily the loudest film I've ever seen. Even though I was in an empty cinema (matinees are so cool), the dialogue was at the right volume so there was no reason (other than for cheap scares) to whack the volume up to maximum and make me jump out of my seat every two minutes.
On with the praise -
The film is pacey, and keeps to a pretty simple but effective plot - very similar (I believe) to the videogame. A great opening shows what went wrong, and then we're into the action. There's a clever plot device (oh alright, it's a map), which I thought really worked well to branch the gap between the feel of a computer-game and a film.
The actors are unfamiliar-enough that they don't detract, and Milla does a great job as the heroine. There's a neat little rip-off of a scene from Cube (which is a great film too), and the zombies are really really good.
I saw a behind-the-scenes preview with Paul Anderson at a film festival last year, where he explained how much effort went into making the zombies and special effects believable, and I think they did a fantastic job. I know this will be sacriligeous to some, but I find Romero's stuff way too OTT. Previously, zombies have only really worked in a comedy sense - Braindead, Evil Dead, the Thriller video etc. so it's nice to see them done convincingly. The dogs look great too. The Licker looked good, but could have had a bigger role (it reminded me of the monster from The Relic, only naked), but the way they get rid if it made me laugh.
Other good things - Milla Jovovich looks fantastic all the way through, and does a pretty good job too. Michelle Rodriguez seems to be enjoying herself, even if her lines are a bit too Sanchez (from Aliens). The ending was excellent - really sets you up for a sequel, without feeling short-changed.
Apart from turning the volume up to 11 to scare me, my only other whinge would be that one of the squad characters (the whiney one) utters the "we're all gonna die" line - but I did appreciate the way lots of other cliched moments were neatly sidestepped.
If you want to see a very attractive woman kill convincing zombies in an entertaining and vaguely futuristic action/horror movie, go see it.