Movies J-M
Land of the Dead
by Shrub and Rene 7/2/05
Shrub: OK, Land of the Dead. Romero picks up the story as if it's present day and just an evolution since Day of the Dead. Did I read that right?
Rene: That's what I got from it as well. Yet I got more of a Road Warrior post apocalyptic type feel from it. I think that Bud the zombie was in the convenience store when Cholo went to get the champagne. Maybe that was his link to Day of the Dead. I enjoyed this film a lot. I set my expectations low though. I was impressed with the acting of the leads in it.
S: Really, you saw Bud?
I don’t guess I caught that. I did see the Tom Savini zombie.
You didn’t think that Leguizamo was over the top? Not that that’s
necessarily a bad thing in this type of movie.
R: No, actually I thought he was really good in it. He wasn't as over the top as I thought he was going to be. He impressed me in this. He usually annoys me but he didn't in this. Yeah the Tom Savini zombie was cool. I actually enjoyed this more than Day of the Dead. This had more of a Dawn feel to it. I thought the writing and the acting was really good in this. The zombie death was awesome in it.
S: Oh yeah, there was plenty of good gore and mayhem. I consider this movie to be like zombie candy. Romero weaved in his usual subtext of class warfare, but for the most part, we’re just given some nice gut pulling and flesh chomping action. Hopper was his usual self. The nose-pick was a classic touch. What did you think about the “lead” zombie, Big Daddy? Why was he so much smarter than the others?
R: I don't know why he was smarter, I guess over time he just figured things out. I liked the grenade death a lot. I thought the part where Dennis Hopper said, "What's that over there?" and then the laugh out loud moment happened. I guess my only real gripe would be that I could tell where they actually cut stuff out. Did you notice the digitally inserted zombies during the gore a la Eyes Wide Shut? I think we're going to get a longer film when this comes out on DVD. I had a great time at this film. I thought it was funny, smart and gory enough for me. Did you see the Shaun of the Dead guys in it? They played a couple of zombies. I liked Asia Argento in this to. The character interaction was great in this film.
S: Huh. No I didn’t notice the digital zombies or the Shaun guys. I guess I wasn’t very observant. Maybe I was sitting too close to the screen. It sounds like I need another viewing and, at least we have another version to look forward to on DVD then. I thought Asia was good. She was pretty realistic, more like she wanted to be tough as opposed to some typical invincible fighting heroine. Did you want the last word?
R: Sure. Overall I would say this is a great film, I really liked the dread and gore carnage in it. The actors were great. I thought Simon Baker did a really good job as well as Leguizamo which is weird because I usually find him very annoying. Asia Argento was good as well. I also loved when she was in the jail with Charlie and Riley and said, "so what's your story?" and Riley just started saying, "I don't want to here about anyone's story anymore." I would recommend this film highly. I suggest you watch it again Shrub. I was smiling the whole time I was watching it. I had such a great time.
