Land of the Dead Review
by Areles (bijouman1 AT charter DOT net)June 27th, 2005
Land of the Dead *** out of *****
Simon Baker; John Leguizamo; Asia Argento; Robert Joy; Dennis Hopper
and Eugene Clark as Big Daddy
written and directed by George Romero.
Running time: 93 minutes. Rated R. Released by Universal Pictures
Having been a George A. Romero fan since running home from a screening of "Night of the Living Dead" back in 1971, I have to say that I was waiting with great anticipation to seeing Romero's return to his thesis of a new society. "Land of the Dead" follows Romero's previous 3 films (NOTLD, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead), in that mankind is still dealing with a growing population of living dead (stenches or zombies, as referred to in the film).
The film opens a team of professional mercenaries, move though a dead infested town gathering supplies (canned foods, ammunition, etc) for the living populace of a walled in city. A class structure divides the people living within this cloistered community (in an unsubtle jab), with the wealthy living with a skyscraping tower dubbed 'Fiddler's Green', and the poor living on the streets below. Ads run on televisions throughout the city promoting the glorious life to be had within the walls of 'Fiddler's Green', an amusing jab at consumerism and materialism. Romero successfully throws stinging barbs at society's baser instincts. And 'Land of the Dead', furthers its subversive tale by introducing us to possibly the horror cinema's first true action hero. That he happens to be a zombie, places a certain responsibility with the audience that may be uncomfortable.
As fans of these films, we relish the grue and viscera that these film wallow in. After years of Freddie Krueger and Jason Voorhees clones, we are now faced with a monstrous creature that has purpose that we can relate too, and that purpose is revenge, and this creature will stop at nothing to exact it. And that is LOTD's most uncomfortable realization. Romero obviously respects these creatures, noting that they are "just looking for a place to go, like we are".
I don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of the film by giving away any big plot points, but those of you that haven't already seen it, be fore warned that the film is violent, and a time graphically so. Some of the zombie attacks are so inventive and outrageous that you'll be talking about them well after you've left the theater.
Unfortunately, Romero has stumbled in his script by not giving us fully rounded characters. The only human character that gets an interesting arc in John Leguizamo's Cholo, so determined to get into Fiddler's Green that he would sacrifice the entire city to do so.
The cast is professional, pulling in fine performances. But lead Simon Baker never really conveys a scene of urgency to his plight. And Asia Argento, after a bravura introduction is given very little else to do. It will be interesting to see Universal's future DVD release of Romero's un-rated cut to see if these character bits are reinstated, as there loss here are a detriment to the film.
All in all, "Land of the Dead" is not the bravura classic that the promoters would have you believe. But it is a fine capper to Romero's (now) epic tale of societal rebellion. Now that the zombies are done with, lets set George Romero set loose on something really exciting.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
