This 2004 remake was directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Suckerpunch). The film is visually striking and is awash with Snyder's signatures, including specific use of slow motion and a noticeable soundtrack using contemporary songs. The story of both movies are fairly similar: In the middle of the Zombie Apocalypse a small group of survivors lock themselves inside of a shopping mall and deal with personal conflicts while trying to survive the growing number of zombies amassing outside and in the lower floors of the mall. Beyond that there isn't much similarity.
The original film was rife with social commentary about consumerist culture and materialism, which doesn't present itself at all in the remake. The remake plays more with personal drama between characters but is far less high minded. Also, zombies in the remake have human or better capabilities while the original featured Romero's famed slow zombies.
The remake on its own is very entertaining. The writing is good and the characters are fun. It's got a nice, brisk pace that manages to avoid dragging too much towards the end of the 2nd act. The effects are really good and realistically bloody. The zombies were scary, the actions scenes were pretty tense. The non-action scenes served pretty well to setup the next bit of story while maintaining a slightly desperate or creepy tone. I really liked the soundtrack with short montages set to Johnny Cash and Richard Cheese.
In fact, I think the only thing I didn't actually like about this movie was the subplot with Mekhi Phifer and his Russian Mail-order Bride. I honestly don't believe anyone that "From the Hood", or that street smart, would be that damned stupid. Plus, that scene killed off one of my favorite characters.
The original movie had a pretty uncertain ending, where you could decide for yourself if you wanted the characters to live or die. The remake's ending was a lot more clear-cut, or at least I thought. When I had watched this I was convinced the cast all died in the final zombie attack where the camera is dropped, but wikipedia describes this ending as "leaving their fate unknown".
Either way, it's a great zombie movie that's very well balanced between human drama, gore, and action. It's well worth watching both, since the original is a classic, but this one capably stands on its own. It's also pretty obvious watching it that the Dead Rising video game took some major cues from the movie: Exploding gas station, set in a mall, unorthodox weapons, a dog. The biker gang in the original movie is pretty similar to the convicts in the game. Dead Rising in some ways led to the Left 4 Dead series and by proxy Dead Island. So yeah. Good movie.
Re-week continues tomorrow with Rob Zombie's Halloween.
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