The ragged they come, the ragged they kill. - Hardly!

Rating: 4/10 (26 July 2002)

Essentially, I was extremely unimpressed by this movie because of the wasted opportunity that it was! This review may contain spoilers! (- if this movie can be spoiled by giving away plot details!)
To put this in context, I have never played the game but have always been aware of it and its reputation. I have always enjoyed the classic zombie movies of the 70's & 80's. As such, I felt it would make a good movie, especially as there have been no good zombie movies for quite a while.
The story was quite passable, but not totally engaging. The acting was also average, but that's what I'd expect from such a movie. Hell, the greatest zombie movies suffer from poor acting.
However, there are 2 major flaws with this movie. Firstly, the marketing aspect. It's based on a computer game, therefore it has to appeal to a younger market - there goes any potential for a nice gory movie. Secondly, as a result of this, it's clearly more of an action movie than horror or zombie flick.
There are moments that are supposed to be scary but these are all practically signposted - no surprises. You can practically guess what will happen next. This isn't a scary movie. The scary element of a zombie movie is the way these monsters never relent until they've totally ripped apart their victim. There is literally no blood or gore in this movie - no horror! The effects of missing body parts might be nicely completed, but the zombie action is ultimately poor. Does the audience really want to watch another average gung-ho Aliens rip off??
The action itself isn't particularly spectacular either. It's still amazing that these trained killers can't figure out that since body shots have no effect, a head shot might have more impact. And it was unsurprising to see the introduction of a "superbeast" into the movie, to allow for a greater amount of pointless CGI. Musically, they overdo it on the industrial metal front (an excuse for a tie in CD!!). More atmospherics and sparing using of the industrial metal would have been more effective!
This movie is passable entertainment, but it just could have been so much more. One can only imagine how different this movie would have been if George Romero had remained in charge. Do yourself a favour, watch the classics (Night Of the Living Dead, Dawn Of the Dead, Day Of the Dead, Zombi 2, Evil Dead) rather than this average action movie!