George A. Romero's
Land Of the Dead. (June 05) by Myk.
So here it is. The movie that many
of us thought would never be released. The fourth installment in the 'Dead'
film lineage and the realization, visually, of Romero's zombies. The film
is actually considerably shorter than Dawn of the Dead and a touch
shorter than Day of the Dead, but you don't at all feel cheated.
Plot wise, you see a film that is somewhere between Day and Dawn
with the humans holed up in a mall type environment (ala Dawn)
and what happens if "Bub" had gotten to the next level
of learning human traits again. What happens if the zombies remember how
to do things from when they were alive? The film contains several extremely
gory scenes, but gore does not exist all throughout the film. The graphic
scenes are just over the top when you see them. Nicotero and company
really out did themselves with the special effects, giving the film a
realistic quality not available to the pioneer Tom Savini some
twenty five years ago. The funny thing about the characters in this film,
is that the most bad ass guy is comedian John Leguizamo who plays
Cholo. As a rule, you actually care about the characters in this
films and have a vested interest. Even Cholo you feel for after
he learns the errors of his ways. Of course, Dennis Hopper is the
ultimate baddy and you love him for portraying the part so well. The film
has a lot of humor in it, but it is dark and sarcastic. At times it was
very English in the way the jokes were delivered, especially if you are
a Monty Python fan. Who can forget Asia Argento? She's just
the hottest and most bad ass chick in Hollywood, end of story. If this
is indeed Romero's last, then he has ended his story with one hell
of an anti corporate statement. He hangs Kauffman (Hopper)
and his board out to dry the way they have left the general population
out to dry. But it all comes down to those with power have the best stuff
and ignore everyone elses plight. That is until someone more powerful
and ruthless comes along. The questions is, do you feel bad for the rich
once they lost everything? CEO's are the living dead of society, at least
in Romero's story telling. You have to see this. It is everything
we hoped for after 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead
remake gave the genre a new lease. He is the founding father and he is
still the best.
-Myk.
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