| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Dont say the 'Z' Word!
by q (movies profile)
Jun 16, 2008
111
of
136 people found this review helpful
Why is it in zombie movies, no one ever says the word 'zombie' and the characters always have to be told on how to kill one? This and other zombie movie concepts are addressed in slight detail in Shaun Of The Dead.
Followering the success of TV's the Office this romantic comedy {with zombies} is evidence that the British is getting better at exporting good comedy State side.
This film begins like it could be from NOTTING HILL or LOVE ACTUALLY for the first 15 minutes and follows a pathetic day in the love life of 29 yrs old loser Shaun and his failing relationship with his long suffering girlfriend. However as his day procedes it slowly begins to get more and more surreal as news reports on the TV are talking about random mysterious suicides, people becoming ill and a satalite that has come out of orbit. All of which he does not notice. This slowly building tension is effective and subtle as it takes a back seat to the sophisticated and witty dialogue that Shaun and his mates engage in with regards to life, love, lazyness and Play Stations!
However the next morning the results of the previous day's weirdness is revealed to be a mini zombie apolcalypse in London and this is where the action begins. With reference to one of the more cleverer one liner jokes in Dawn Of The Dead 2004 , Shaun Of The Dead highlights the difference between the way the Americans and the way the British deal with a crisis..i.e: THE WORLDS IN PERIL, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Americans answer 'Lets all go to the Mall!' The Brits answer 'Lets all go to Pub!'.
Shaun's character is as ordinary as you can get
and not your typical hero, as his choices and decisions in the film often lead to more trouble and tragic consequences. {The whole going to the pub thing turns out to be a big mistake} .
Even before watching this film you know it is going to be a parody of the Zombie genre, but this is more like the SCREAM trilogy's take on teen slasher flick and less like the SCARY MOVIE Trilogy's interpretation. There is some slap stick comedy and some clever humor mixed with some extreme violence. For the greater part, this all works together well, however there are some scenes that were totally out of sync with the movie and did not work. Most notably towards the end, was a very emotionally intense scene, where one of the main characters is revealed to be dying of the Zombie transforming virus and there was nothing that could be done to save her/him.
Overall this is a good film. It is not frightening {zombie movies rarely are, apart from 28 DAYS LATER} but it is extremely violent. However it is the humour that works best in this
story and if there were no zombies in it at all , the film could of still worked just aswell as a romantic comedy.
Look out for the media and political satire at the end, on how society should adapt to the Zombie 'crisis'. Very funny. |
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