A Fair if Late Review

Rating: 7/10 (18 March 2015)

The main plot is that "Enders" get embroiled in apocalyptic London. The soap opera points are played for laughs, as is most of the film.
The soap opera itself is too underplayed to make a suitable impact, and therefore the pathos is mainly of comedic nature, which unfortunately does not engender sympathy for mostly unlikeable characters, except Simon Pegg's. Yes, even "Ed" hasn't enough depth to bring him alive, and therefore his end is rather benign, heroics notwithstanding. The one poignant scene is the stepfather telling the stepson how much he is loved.
As for the zombie portion of the film, there are a few gruesome scenes which will keep any hardcore fan nodding lethargically, but there are some real issues with continuity and/or the arrow of time. For example, in the bar, the windows are smashed out and the zombies are comin' in, but a few minutes later the windows are NOT smashed out and the zombies are back out again. A serious error. When the rifle is utilized, it is shot from longer range rather than point blank; but if Simon is brave enough to use a sticky wicket or other handy instrument (a running gag), why not get closer with the firearm? Curious.
The star of the film is Simon Pegg, and he IS worth the price of admission. Cool under fire from some bad scriptwriting and various staging problems, he rises above to create a character worth watching. His comic timing has never been better, and in effect he drags UP the other actors, who otherwise would bore.
The other star is the swift editing, which is a nod to Sam Raimi, as is the line "Join us." Speaking of lines, Night of the Living Dead gets at least one obvious smile-bringing reference.
As a whole, the film is slightly ordinary, having a somewhat-tense waiting period at the start, with media clues in the background of daily life building to the inevitable, a hackneyed caught-in-the-structure sequence, and a catch-all ending, before the surprise one-off punchline. For sheer chutzpah, Return of the Living Dead did it better, and Evil Dead 2 is the king of absurdity while still maintaining complexity and chills. Shaun of the Dead has a place in the canon, but not as high as Dawn of the Dead or Zombieland, because this is, after all, Cheech and Chong Meets the Living Dead.