REVIEW: George A. Romero's Land of the Dead

Big Daddy
Originally uploaded by genzod.

Whew. I am a real Zombie today. After a 10 hour editing session, a stressful game 7 of the NBA Finals, I decided at halftime last night to go see a midnight screening of Land of the Dead, the fourth zombie film in Romero's continuing saga of the undead. It began in the 60's as Night of the Living Dead, then continued in one of my favorite films of all time, Dawn of the Dead, then finished up in the 80's with the Day of the Dead. I was a huge fan of all three movies with Dawn being the movie I have probably seen more than any other movie in my life. It has such an oddness and charm about it while at the same time this utter sense of doom. But enough about Dawn, that's a whole other blog!
Land of the Dead is a worthy entry into the series. Now, I would not go as far to call it a masterpiece. But it is a fun scary ride that made me feel like I was back in High school with zits reading the newest issue of Fangoria. The movie high point to me was the social commentary that Romero is able to squeeze in between the gore. That sense of doom you feel with these movies is always related to what the general publics mood is at the time. I thought he did a nice job of tying that into the story. And the gore while at times was utterly great, there were a few instances of "digital gore" that I'm still not a fan of. But I'll give it a pass in the overall scheme of things.

The actors all did a great job, although I had some nitpicky things with Simon Baker's character as how he fit in with the rest of the leads from the previous Dead films, it is indeed a minor flaw. The main zombie, Big Daddy was a continuation of Bub from Day of the Dead. And therein lies the most interesting thing about this movie. The Zombies are beginning to think, and the line between them and us are beginning to shrink. They have evolved and are now learning. That sets up what could be an even more interesting fifth film if this film makes it off the ground this weekend. Other cast members are also solid. Dennis Hopper is pretty by the numbers, but Asia Argento's character is mainly eye candy, but she does have some good scenes with Simon Baker.
To sum up, I liked it. I'm a little tired to place it with the others just yet. I want to see it again this weekend if I can and give it another look. It was just so awesome to be back in the presence of an old friend whose movies I so cherish and have missed so much over the last decade. Its great to have a Romero Zombie movie back in theaters. This is turning out to be a great summer to be a movie fan. Batman, Zombies, Star Wars, H.G. Wells, what more can you ask for, and its only June... Be back on Tuesday with a review of War of the Worlds.