Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Written By: DMG
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Zack Snyder
Producer: Richard Rubinstein, Marc Abraham, Eric Newman
Writer: James Gun
Based on: George A. Romero’s 1978 film, Dawn of the Dead
Date Released: March 19, 2004
Cast:
Ving Rhames as Kenneth Hall
Jake Weber as Michael
Sarah Polley as Ana Clark
Mekhi Phifer as Andre
Kevin Zegers as Terry
Lindy Both as Nicole
Michael Kelly as C.J.
Tyler Burrell as Steve Marcus
Kim Poirier as Monica
Rating = 3.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story begins when Ana (Sarah Polley) comes home from a late shift as a nurse to be greeted by her husband, Louis. All seems normal until the following morning, someone walks into their home and bites Louis killing him. Soon thereafter, he comes back as a flesh-eating corpse and begins to attack Ana. Eventually, Ana manages to escape and drives away in her car. With chaos happening everywhere, s folhe crashes and passes out. When she awakes, she manages to tag along with other survivors, Kenneth Hall (Ving Rhames), Michael (Jake Weber), Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his wife Luda (Inna Korobkina). Together, they find shelter at a nearby mall where three security guards let the group stay only if they turn over all their guns. Ana and the group are soon joined by more survivors. With no where to go, they must find a way to survive and more importantly, how to leave the now zombie-surrounded mall.
Gore Factor
This is what would be described as fun gore. You almost expect there to be blood and guts from a zombie attack. There is even one scene where one of the characters uses a chainsaw to get zombies off a truck the group uses to escape and as a result, splits the zombie in two pieces. But with all the blood and guts, there are few scenes that are over the top. But the most disturbing scene is when Luda is giving birth to her now demonic child. Giving birth is one thing. Giving birth to a demon baby is something else.
The Grave Review
Dawn of the Dead (2004) is a clear-cut film about a group of survivors who take refuge in a nearby mall. The film was an adaptation from 1978 George A. Romero version. The story line was not particularly thought provoking, but provided for an enjoyable concept nonetheless. Majority of the film’s story line is spent in the mall. While the survivors stay there, the plot seems slow-paced. The plot does not pick up until the survivors decide to escape and plow through the hoard of zombies that awaits them. Overall, the story line is something that you can enjoy without having to concentrate to hard.
The cast that was chosen for this film had some big names. Ving Rhames, who had already established himself, was very fitting for the role of Officer Kenneth Hall in this film. Office Hall was the perfect character for an angry, survival of the fittest kind of character who secretly has a good heart. In addition, Tyler Burrell (who would later co-star in the TV series, Modern Family) plays Steve Marcus, a wealthy individual. Burrell’s character added a comical, sarcastic and witty personality to this apocalyptic era which gave the film a real-life personality. Ana (Sarah Polley) and Michael (Jake Weber) who take leadership roles in the film, have a calm demeanor which gave the group a nice range of personalities. In this way, Dawn of the Dead did a good job at incorporating a wide array of diversified characters which added an element of realism.
Another notable aspect of the film was the music soundtrack in which Disturbed’s Down with the Sickness song is performed by a swing-style musician known as Richard Cheese. The songs upbeat and playful tempo adds an unorthodox yet fitting
Because of the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Dawn of the Dead (2004) three and one-half graves out of five graves.
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