Dawn of the Dead (2004) review

(7/10)

This amped-up remake of the Romero classic adds more excitement, a more intricate story, and a bit more added scare to the overall zombie subgenre. However, the movie remake also comes with a few deeply recognizable flaws.

PLOT:The Earth has officially been taken over by a zombie breakout and is rapidly getting worse. The last two remaining that we focus on the most are Ana (Sarah Polley) and Kenneth (VIng Rhames). To flee and find shelter from the undead, the two take shelter in an abandoned shopping mall, where they meet a mean group of security, including stubborn CJ (Michael Kelly) and several other survivors. After the outbreak starts getting worse, the group decides the best thing to do would be to sail to another island in hope of a safe zone. It's a good plot executed very well.



ACTING:The acting in this movie is alright. Some performances are pretty good and others really suck. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames were pretty okay as the main characters, Ana and Kenneth. Most of the other characters were just okay. The shiners would be Mekhi Phifer as Andre and Ty Burrell as Steve. The rest would be in the middle of okay and forgettable.

SCORE:The score in here is pretty well done, with some good horror score and a few well-placed songs, such as Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" and Richard Cheese's cover of "Down With the Sickness". I enjoyed it altogether.

EFFECTS:The effects in this movie are kind of cheesy, but they also get the job of being scary done. The effects assist with the scares being effective altogether. Compared to the original, these effects are more charged and violent. Both are good nevertheless.



OTHER CONTENT:This fueled remake of the classic is actually almost as good as it is or even better. The energy in this movie is way more charged and in-your-face as compared to the older one, which is a bit more subtly creepy. The constant action goes together with the creepiness in this one and kind of draws it all in together. However, some of the directions this movie decides to go in seem a bit cheesy and overdone. I believe for zombie films, there is a fine line between good substance and overdone cheese. This movie crossed back and forth over that line several times, but still worked it all out together in a way. One thing I also didn't like is that the characters in this seem more forgettable and less complex than they did in the first one. I couldn't really place as many people as I could before.

OVERALL,a good zombie movie with a very well done plot, okay acting, well-placed score, cheesy yet scary effects, more action, and a few more independent scares, but there are forgettable characters and a few overdone sequences.