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Never Reaches Its Potential
by Justin (movies profile)
Dec 9, 2005
5
of
5 people found this review helpful
George A. Romero is back for the 4th and perhaps final installment of the Dead series. He almost single handedly invented the genre with Night of the Living Dead, a good film. Then, he followed it up with perhaps the greatest zombie film: Dawn of the Dead. Afterwards, he followed it up with the dreadful Day of the Dead, easily the worst film of the series. So where does Land of the Dead fall in with the rest of the series?
The story is much improved over Day but it doesn’t quite compare to Night or Dawn. I am glad to see Romero come back with some social commentary like he did with Night and Dawn but I am not sure it worked as well as it did in those two previous films. I liked what Romero was trying to convey but I didn’t like the way he went about doing it.
In the film, through crisis and all, the remaining citizens have managed to break themselves into social classes, with the wealthiest individuals living in a luxury, high rise building and the rest of the people living on the streets. John Leguizamo’s character, who starts off as one of the street dwellers, has worked his way up and saved enough money to become a resident with these “elite” people. However, he is not allowed to join their community because he isn’t one of them. This is a great storyline up to this point and the message by Romero is loud and clear. However, soon Leguizamo goes on a personal vendetta against the owner of the building for not letting him in. This is where the movie lost me because it has now gone from social commentary to just revenge and it’s no where near as interesting. I think this facet of the story should have been handled better instead of turning it into routine action.
As far as the zombies are concerned, they are somewhat interesting. In this film, the zombies have started to learn. However, this idea is not fully developed. They have become smarter enemies but they are still not worthy enough to create a real sense that the humans are in serious danger. They are still slow and not quite as smart.
The acting was average at best. The best actor in the movie was Simon Baker. The rest of the cast was less than stellar, including the usually great Hopper.
The special effects were impressive although there were times when the blood was digital and noticeable. The visual look of the film was great and the colors were terrific.
So where does Land of the Dead fall in with the rest of the series. Land is not quite as good as Dawn or Night but still better than Day. Land of the Dead is an interesting idea that never quite took flight. Some of the ideas were great but were not developed to the fullest. Still, Land of the Dead is better than most zombie films around and certainly Romero is one of the best directors in the genre. If you liked the rest of the series, you will probably enjoy this one and if you haven’t seen them, they are probably worth a rental. |
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