What the world needed, a remake of George A. Romero's 1973 twist on the zombie flick. I could listen to an argument for a remake of Return of the Living Dead or even Dawn of the Dead. Remaking this 1980's video store standby is like covering Beatles tunes but only focusing on Yellow Submarine. This wasn't his best work and was far from being worthy of further attention.

Timothy Olyphant (A Perfect Getaway) and Radha Mitchell (Rouge) star as David and Judy Dutten , an Iowan couple. He is the local sheriff. She is the local sheriff's pregnant wife who is there purely as a means of putting the sheriff in continual and needless peril. A strange series of horrific murders hit their small town in the course of a couple of days. Soon the whole town is frenzied with violent psychopaths. A toxin has entered the water supply turning everyone insane. The whole community quickly descends into being a Darwinian carnival.

The townsfolk slaughter one another and eventually the State shows up and does what the State does best - it screws the whole thing to a point of complete collapse. Given how our Government works, this film gets the State's response completely wrong. In the movie the soldiers show up inside of a few days. In reality this would have gone on for another month before a commission would be set up to talk about the possibility of a response to a dangerous neurotoxin infecting a population. The zombies would have time to become domesticated and vote one of themselves mayor before our Government would step foot in the Midwest.*

The film is a paint-by-numbers affair with no surprises and nothing original. It is pap. There isn't anything wrong with the performances or even the execution (other than a reliance on gore - but you have to excuse that since that's the reason for making the movie). The problem with the film is that it is so painfully unoriginal. Even the DVD cover isn't new. The dragging of the pitchfork is a direct homage to the Coen Brother's Blood Simple where the implement was a shovel being dragging along asphalt.

You do not need to see this movie, so don't. It is a time waster and you have more to do with yourself than waste your time.


* - Unless it was Primary Season - this is Iowa after all.





Related Reviews:
Zombie movies
28 Days Later (2002)
Dead Snow (2009)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Beyond Hollywood
Film Freak Central



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Labels: film, George A Romero, movie review, Radha Mitchell, remake, Timothy Olyphant, zombie

Screenwriters: Scott Kosar (The Machinist) and Ray Wright (Pulse)
Director: Breck Eisner
Actors: Radha Mitchell (Rogue), Timothy Olyphant (Meet Bill) and Joe Anderson (The Ruins)

Labels: film, Joe Anderson, movie trailer, Radha Mitchell, remake, Timothy Olyphant, zombie

Screenwriters: Michael Ferris (Catwoman), John D. Brancato (Terminator Salvation)
Director: Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Actors: Bruce Willis (Hostage), Radha Mitchell (Rouge), Ving Rhames (Dawn of the Dead) and Rosamund Pike (Doom)

Labels: Bruce Willis, film, movie trailer, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames

I watched this based on the recommendation of Julie Davis from Happy Catholic. Julie and I have a history of not agreeing on films. To be more precise, Julie has a history of being wrong about films and I have a history of exercising great patience with her taste. This time around she recommended the film as an example of how Christian filmmakers should handle the topic of faith in their stories. She had just suffered through Fireproof, which she did not enjoy. I was more lenient with its flaws but understood her frustration with the film’s aggressive theological approach. This film deals with faith but is very approachable in its delivery. I am happy to say that Julie and I are in complete agreement. This is a very good film and well worth seeing.

As mentioned, the film is very approachable. The film’s personality is what makes the production so successful. The story centers around Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) a terminally ill atheist who moves into a neighborhood and discovers a Christ shaped water stain on his house. His neighbor Esperanza spots the stain and deems it to be a holy sign. Poole at first denies the stain looks like Christ but when local people begin to be healed after touching it, his theology falls into question. This is a conversation tale to a point. Poole is forced to confront his lack of faith in light of an obvious supernatural presence. The script by Albert Torres is careful to deliver the faith issues with a patient hand. The Christian aspects are not shoved down the audience’s throats but offered with life affirming humor. Lesser filmmakers may have gotten preachy with the story, Torres and director Mark Pellington (U2 3D) smartly let the religious characters speak for themselves. Poole is a smart and likable atheist who denies God even in the face of his impending death. The script doesn’t cheapen itself by making his protests against the existence of God too simple. Conversely, the religious characters are likewise enjoyable and have depth. More than being a story about faith, it is a story about real life people.

One aspect of the film that truly spoke to me was Poole’s impending death and how he handles it. In September of 2007 I suffered a heart attack at the ripe old age of 38. I went to the bank and dropped over at the change machine. If I hadn’t dropped two blocks from the EMTs, I wouldn’t be writing this today. I literally died and was brought back. Since then my condition hasn’t improved greatly. My HDL levels are stubborn and refuse to rise. Despite exercise, a good diet and taking steps in my life to reduce stress, my heart isn’t cooperating as it should. This said, I’m lucky to be alive in the first place so I try to look at every additional day as a continual Christmas present from God. Henry Poole reminded me a great deal of my own reaction to death. His despondency is handled perfectly and the attitudes he shows are exactly right. When the temporary nature of life is plain for you to see, the world takes on a strange essence. This can lead to moments of happiness and other moments of deep depression. While watching the film I found myself wondering if Torres himself survived some serious health concern or knows someone who did because he nailed the effect it can have on a man.

A final note, this film may have my favorite final shot. It may be a personal reaction more than a critical decision, but the final moment of the film was very moving. I want to thank Julie for recommending this movie. In turn, I recommend it to you. Even those of you atheists out there can expect to enjoy the film. It is an upbeat, well written work that deserves a chance.



Related Reviews:
Movies Julie Davis and I disagree about
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Millions (2004)
Memento (2000)
Serenity (2005)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
Combustible Celluloid
Hollywood Jesus

Labels: film, Luke Wilson, movie review, Radha Mitchell

Short Review: It’s more of a stinking pile.


Based on the popular video game, this volley to the low-IQ set manages some striking imagery while delivering an embarrassingly lame script. This “story” about a mother and daughter who get trapped in a strange small town that has been literally swallowed into Hell has the intellectual force of a Marilyn Manson video.

Ripping on a film based on a video game may seem needless. The bar isn’t set high in the first place. I see this trend of basing films on video games to be a scourge. Films like Doom, Final Fantasy, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and all Uwe Bol movies, support the content free storytelling video games have been promoting for over twenty-five years. Video games place the audience in the driver’s seat and in effect makes them the hero. This tends to be a bad thing. The reason? When one watches a movie or reads a book they have an interaction with the hero character. They experience the story through that person on page or on screen. Great heroes like Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, or even Rambo, for that matter, delivers us to new worlds. We experience the story through their eyes and the narrative (the story) is established through this relationship. We see the world through their point of view, their experience. We interact emotionally with this experience and learn to expect things of the hero. This is how we become attached to certain heroic figures like Indiana Jones, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, etc. They become like real people because they develop depth. Video games spoil this relationship. By placing us in the heroic role, the rest of the world of the story begins to lose its perspective. The interaction between audience and hero is critical for a story to actually complete its function – to educate. Since the relationship with the hero is our avenue into the new world, when this bond is broken we are left with a valueless and empty husk of a story. There's no emotional bond beyond fleeting moments of excitement or fright. It is the difference between saying “A ball hit the man.” when one could say “A ball hit The President of The United States.” The first sentence is bland and without content. The second sentence involves an emotional response because we have someone we can identify with (either positively or negatively) involved.

Well, we’re way out in left field aren’t we?

Back to the movie.

Since this was based on a video game, there isn’t any depth or logic. There is just its presence. There are some very stunning visual images of evil and Hell. I’ll go as far to say that some of the images are downright disturbing. But in the end they mean nothing and are not enough to make up for a story that lingers and eventually fades into a muttering mess.

There are strong anti-Christian elements to the film, some of the most openly spiteful ones I’ve seen. This said, the low nature of how Christians are displayed in this piece is as meaningless as the rest of the production. The theology, logic and structure of the movie as a whole are so sophomoric they tend to negate themselves.

My fear is that some goofy teenager is watching this crap. Firstly, because its’ bad for the brain to watch such crude and horrid imagery. Secondly, it’s a bad movie and kids need to see the beauty of life more than they need to see the bitter remnants of some jerk’s foul imagination. The lessons taught in this film would be lost on most teenage boys who would be more drawn the demonic imagery. In this they will not be disappointed. This being the case, I’d advise parents to keep the children far away from this hateful yarn.


Related Reviews:
Another video game movie
Resident Evil (1999)


Other Critic's Reviews:
The Flickering Wall
Roger Ebert

Labels: adaptation, film, movie review, Radha Mitchell, Roger Avary, Sean Bean, video game

This is not a great film but it is a very straight-forward and succeeds on its own terms. The movie centers on a group of tourists on a boat trip in the outback of Australia. The group is attacked by a huge alligator which gobbles down the tourists and collected Aussies one by one. This is a very traditional pick-off movie where the group is introduced, the destructive force is brought in and then we sit back and get thrilled by the carnage. What is interesting about this production is how little it relies on gore. There’s a single scene which shows the alligator killing someone. Writer/Director Greg McLean avoids the unpleasant stuff and relies on tension and surprise to build his story. Too bad he couldn’t have shown as much restraint in his debut film, the torture-porn classic Wolf Creek.

There is nothing revolutionary about this film but it is a solid piece of storytelling. The performances are good, the direction is strong and the script is better than average (for a simple pick-off movie). This is a good pick if you’re looking for some cheap thrills. That’s all it offers and that’s all it delivers and it does so with some taste. As far as pap is concerned, you really can’t ask for more.


Related Reviews:
Pick-off movies
30 Days of Night (2007)
Alien (1977)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Film Jerk
Moria

Labels: film, Michael Vartan, movie review, pick-off movie, Radha Mitchell

Screenwriter: Albert Torres
Director: Mark Pellington (U2 3D)
Actors: Luke Wilson (Idiocracy), and Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill)

Labels: George Lopez, Luke Wilson, movie trailer, Radha Mitchell