(2005) ****
It would not have been hard for Romero's Land of the Dead to buckle under expectations. After all, it had been 20 years since his last zombie venture. It would also inevitably be stacked up side by side with the unexpectedly superb Dawn of the Dead remake from last year. Though it's too early to tell how this movie will ultimately rest in the grand scheme of things, I suspect it will age with dignity.
We're taken further in the zombie timeline to a city on an island, safe from the undead. Society has been rebuilt but class differences are now more evident than ever. The first class citizens, led by a wonderfully restrained Dennis Hopper, live the life of luxury in a well-protected skyscraper. The 2nd class folk are forced to live in absolute squalor on the street level. The depiction of the overpopulated slums is truly impressive and I wish more time was spent here. We meet our protagonists in a trendy gothic nightclub that uses zombies chained to the wall as ambience -and that's just great. (Keep your eyes peeled for the Shaun of the Dead cameos here.) Horror royalty Asia Argento is also introduced in this scene and she brings much to the film by being both tough-as-nails and cool-as-shit. And John Leguziamo (who normally gets on my tits but fits his role here nicely) plays one of Hopper's henchmen whom he hires for suicide missions to obtain supplies from the mainland. He hopes to earn enough money to buy his way into high society.
The zombies are the 3rd class citizens who are generally greeted with a bullet to the forehead. But they are getting smarter and beginning to show signs of human emotion. And they now have a charismatic leader in the form of a zombie gas station attendant. He mourns the loss of his fellow zombies ever so much. All Hell breaks loose when the he leads the masses to the island for a bloody showdown.
I was initially disappointed with Land of the Dead but upon 2nd viewing I was truly converted. Hallelujah. The director's cut is ultraviolent but never gratuitous. Ok, it's plenty gratuitous but it never loses its focus.
8 comments:
Hmmm, I'll have to give this another look. I recall feeling let down by Romero after screening this the first time. I think my expectations were through the roof for this one. Like you said, only time will tell how this fits in with his other zombie efforts.
I was mostly digging this flick until the ending. They just fire the missles once and suddenly it's all "you saved everybody" just because they say so.
By the way, Asia Argento's name name is pronounced AH-CEE-AH. This will save you some embarrassment if you ever meet her.
Yeah, that ending line, "They're just trying to exist, like the rest of us" or somehting like that, was really cheesey.
It definitely had some problems but the sheer ambition of the whole thing deserves praise.
I kept expecting Dennis Hopper to revert to his psycho Blue Velvet/Texas Chainsaw II persona but he managed to keep it in check. There's one part where he subtly picks his nose which was hilarious.
I need to see the uncut version, was it noticeably gorier?
Honestly, I really didn't notice much of a difference. Good bonus features that I'm looking forward to though.
"Gets on my tits?" That is a new one for me...
D.
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