Watch Dawn of the Dead For Free

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If you need to know the plot for this film it's really very simple. Put a group of non-infected humans together and have them shoot as many zombies in the head as possible in a hundred and ten minute time span. It's no more complicated than that. My viewing was of the director's cut, with Zack Snyder's introduction stating how there were additional dead bodies and character development the theatrical version didn't have. Character development? That must have been when Ana (Sarah Polley) shared a romantic moment with Michael (Jake Weber) before she knew that he'd been bitten during one of the undead skirmishes. Didn't Ana's husband turn into a zombie only like about, what - six hours earlier? That must have been a solid marriage. Look, I know there's a fan base for this stuff, and because I'm not a member, I just don't get the fascination. For the rest, have fun, if that's what you get out of it.

DAWN OF THE DEAD is a remake of George A. Romero's same titled apocalyptic, epic, zombie-horror-action-thriller-drama 1978 masterpiece; this 2004 version sometimes seems good, especially the first 20 or 30 minutes leading up to/getting to the shopping mall (putting aside the cliche of the pretty female nurse working in a major hospital). And when they get inside the mall there's this promising bit where they're running and music from the 1978 film composed by the Italian band Goblin kicks in...but it's over in a few seconds and things go downhill when they meet the security guards hiding in the mall (which was meant to add complexity/depth to the situation but doesn't - it's just security guards hiding in a mall/protecting their turf - wow). Nancy Allen said in an interview on the Robocop remake (2014); words to the effect of: 'You only remake films that had a good idea but were executed badly'. I reckon it'd be cool to remake films for younger audiences who weren't around when the original came out; SPFX have improved so now it's possible to make a better looking/more polished versions but they should leave 'em to the original director/creative team (if they're still around which George A. Romero certainly was) e.g. 'Hey George this is so and so calling from Universal Studios and we want you to remake Dawn of the Dead; you can have as much $ as you like/we'll give you whatever you need/you'll have full creative control' and if they agree or at least have a role in overseeing the production then remake it otherwise leave it alone. Part of the reason why the original Dawn of the Dead was so much better was because George A. Romero worked largely outside of the studio system; he was independent, didn't use a lot of big stars and yet his movies kicked arse; the original Dawn of the Dead had a insight into human nature and materialism and captured a sense of dread and uneasiness as we watch a breakdown of the fabric of society - this remake just isn't as good, isn't as insightful; it seems trite in comparison. This remake is uneven in tone, never really gets going/the gore doesn't take off/there's crappy slow-motion like when the zombies are being blasted off the caged wire fences in the underground car-park and the action doesn't let rip like in the original; after the first act, it's pretty boring /there were missed opportunities; the original film let rip; this one doesn't. Giving it 5 out of 10 for trying and hey; it's easy to criticise; try making a film.

Zack Snyder's directorial debut is a decently entertaining & delightfully violent re-envisioning of George A. Romero's 1978 classic and while it keeps its premise similar to its source material, the film does take inspiration from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later for its depiction of zombies. However, despite the 21st century upgrade, it's more or less forgettable.The story of Dawn of the Dead follows a nurse who, following a zombie apocalypse, takes refuge inside a shopping mall along with a few human survivors. Surrounded by a swarm of flesh-eating zombies and running out of supplies, the group soon realises that they cannot stay there forever and devise a plan to escape the horde that's waiting for them outside the mall.Written by James Gunn and directed by Zack Snyder's, the film simply lifts the plot of the original and places it in a contemporary setting, without the subtleties, themes or social commentary that made Romero's film a classic. This remake is a straightforward action horror that revels in violence & gore, and opts for a more visceral ride than a thought-provoking one, at which it succeeds.Populated with a tad excess characters, which inhibit character development, the film still retains its sense of fun and packs a good dose of action. The vibrant colour palette, slow-mo technique & swift manoeuvring of camera add to its kinetic flair, but turning those reanimated corpses into fast & agile creatures doesn't make much of a difference. Performances are fine for the most part but there are no standouts.On an overall scale, Dawn of the Dead doesn't bring anything new to the table yet qualifies as an acceptable remake that achieves what it set out to do. It may strike a better chord with those who haven't seen Romero's version but unlike that revered classic, there's nothing memorable about it. Opening on a thrilling note, falling flat in the middle & regaining some interest in the epilogue, this remake is good zombie fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is impossible to evaluate the success of this movie without comparing it to the original. The fantasy element of living in the mall which drove the classic film, of having all the creature comforts of civilization amid the apocalypse, is missing entirely. The social commentary of the original, that consumerism has become so instinctive that even zombies would gravitate towards the mall, is missing entirely. This isn't "Dawn of the Dead"; this is just a movie that has a mall in it. Also absent are any compelling characters. While the original focused on no more than four survivors, the number is more than tripled in the remake to diminished effect. There are no nuanced portrayals here; the cast never transcends flat character descriptions like "the tough nurse", "the pregnant woman", or "the jerk security guard". As we see them dispatched with the indifference we might reserve for reality show contestants, none of these characters make much of an impression. Original film actor Ken Foret has a brief cameo as a fundamentalist preacher, and in his less than two minutes of screen time he provides a more powerful performance than any of the main cast.The fast zombies are more comedic than scary. Whether they're sprinting after cars like cartoon dogs, bashing their heads through doors, or squealing like pigs as they are picked off by gunfire, the undead never seem to present a credible threat. For all its enhanced budget and updated special effects, this "Dawn of the Dead" does not offer anything that cannot be found in the previous four decades of zombie horror. Once again we have to sit through the usual bickering between survivors over who will lead, the standard "bit by a zombie and waiting to turn" play for our sympathies, the predictable ill- advised trip to the basement. All this and more has been done before, and executed more effectively.Zack Snyder has always been an amazing visualist, and this is one way in which the film redeems itself. The full scope of a neighborhood descending into chaos is revealed through a camera mounted on an escaping vehicle. Two characters saying a tearful goodbye is broken into multiple cuts from several perspectives, distorting time and drawing us into the moment. The daylight scenes appear overexposed, amplifying the idea that this catastrophe is happening in our real world. Sadly, no amount of skillful cinematography can help this mashup of worn out horror movie banalities.