Saturday, August 13, 2005

George A Romero's Land of the Dead

The maestro of zombie films, George A Romero, is back with his latest offering for the Dead series - Land of the Dead.

The Universal Pictures logo also underwent transformation back to the good ol' days (the 20s), and the film opens with a quick news monologue montage to update the audience that it's basically zombie land out there in the world (set in an unspecified time after the last movie of the trilogy - Day of the Dead). One of the final remaining human enclaves is a city which is electric fenced to keep the Walkers, or insultingly, the Stench, out.

Both man and zombie are kept busy in the movie with its own plot. Man's plot is to reclaim The Dead Reckoning, the high powered, impenetrable zombie killing machine on wheels, which is hijacked by rouge entities. Zombie's plot on the other hand (if they're using their brains to begin with), is basically to chomp its way through to the city center. Ok, make that looking for a place to call their own. Along the way, they evolve, learning how to use weaponry, no longer mesmerized by fireworks, and no longer being stopped by bodies of water.

Being a fan of zombie films, this movie doesn't disappoint, with it ample splattering of fresh human blood, and standard gore fest with the ripping, chewing, mangling, dismembering of body parts, either on screen, or through the creative use of silhouettes. With human retaliation, we add to the (undead) bodycount with bullets to the heads.

I got to admit though, I watched this film also because it stars John Leguizamo and Asia Argento (eye candy you know), and count me in for any splatter-fest. The make-up department also did its job superbly, otherwise how can you account for the different looking zombies by the truckloads.

Themes like politics, stereotypes are touched upon, but thrown out the window. It's rip roaring, screaming fun (at least the couple sitting beside me did shriek and leap in their seats) for most audiences who knows what to expect in a film like this. Leave your brains at the door, and get ready for some mindless zombie action.

Now can someone lend me a limb to chew on?

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...