Usually sequels are planned to be released in an ordered
process. The standard lead time is between two to three years. Sometimes there
are delays which can push it out. Then there are also the rushed ones where a
film is pumped out in a little longer than a year’s length. To do that is nuts
but it’s proven to be done before. For George A. Romero, it seems he truly went
at his own pace when it came to making his movies. Even though Romero had
worked on other films in between the “dead” entries, the intervals at which
each film came out was almost consecutively ten years apart. That’s a long
time. Weirdly enough, it seems the remakes of his films are following the same
path despite him not even being involved. While Night of the Living Dead (1990)
was an amicable update to the original, it did have some issues. Almost fifteen
years later, came this sequel. It’s about the same but for some different
reasons.
The setup to the story is the same as the original involving
a bunch of strangers taking refuge in an abandoned shopping mall after the
world is turned upside down with undead corpses attacking the living. This was directed by newcomer at the time Zack
Snyder, who is now best known for several comic book related films. Before this
Snyder was directing music videos, similar to Michael Bay’s startup before
turning action director. The screenplay was written by James Gunn, the same
person who is also best known for his array of comic book films too. Before
this though, there was hesitation for him writing for this production. Reason
being, that his biggest credit at the time was penning the script for the
live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) film. And of course, most know pretty well how
that movie did with viewers and fans alike.
The cast of actors to play these everyday people are Ana
(Sarah Polley) a nurse, Kenneth (Ving Rhames) a cop, Michael (Jake Weber) a TV
salesman, Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and Luda (Inna Korobkina) and CJ (Michael Kelly)
a security guard to the mall along with his rookie Terry (Kevin Zegers).
Together these main characters spend most of their time together in the mall.
There they learn about their histories as well as how to cope with what’s
around them and support each other. This script includes way more characters in
general than that of the original but it works out okay. Gunn even has a couple
twists in the story that can play to the opposite to what viewers may expect
for certain characters. Sarah Polley is a good lead and being that her
character’s a nurse, growing accustomed to the horrors around her seemed easier
to handle. The same could be said for Ving Rhames as the cop.
Jake Weber although plays what seems like a wimpy character
quickly toughens up. And of all thespians, the actor who has the best lines and
best character arc goes to Michael Kelly. Clearly it looked like he had the
most fun. However, this does not totally omit any typical character tropes seen
in other horror films. Two good examples of this are Mekhi Phifer’s role and Ty
Burrell as some snobby rich guy. Guess one can’t avoid all the pitfalls. Yet
casting director Joseph Middleton was able to nab Ken Foree, Tom Savini and
Scott H. Reiniger from the original film for cameos. Very nice. Still there is
one other thing that’s a bit odd that likely was not mentioned in any other
zombie film which was raised here. Apparently dogs can run circles around
zombies and not be seen as food? That’s something new…why’s that? Unanswered
question. Additionally, the zombies in this film are far more aggressive as
opposed to all others featured before. They run now.
Visually, as Snyder fans would come to know and love, the
film is very good looking. The special effects look mostly practical which is
good because even for 2004, CGI didn’t always look real. Behind the camera was
Matthew F. Leonetti, a cinematographer with quite a history behind him. Before
this he had worked on Raise the Titanic (1980), Poltergeist (1982), Hard to
Kill (1990) and Rush Hour 2 (2001). Finally, the film score was composed by
Tyler Bates. For this project Bates had the chance to make something of the
franchise being that none of the films ever had a signature identity. He didn’t
do that though, but managed to still create themes that worked for the scenes.
Before this, Bates’ most notable credit was to another remake by name of Get
Carter (2000), another film from the 70s.
For a remake, it entertains surprisingly well even
though there are still some regular clichés the genre will come across. These
small flaws are made up for through the actors’ performances, the music,
special effects and camerawork.
Points Earned --> 7:10
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