Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead

One of the best things to happen to cinema in ’05 was the return of George Romero. Romero is the master of the Zombie movie and the proliferation of half-assed imitations finally spurred his return to the genre he practically invented.

The only concession that Romero seems to have made is that his zombies move a little bit quicker in this one, are a little less bumbling. Other than that there is classic Romero humor, subtle comments on society and, in particular, the upper class. It’s nothing new that Romero seems to view the world as being in a sort of caste system where the upper tier uses and abuses the lower tier—going so far as to leave them for dead whenever possible. The upper crust, typified in this case by Dennis Hopper, always seems to get the comeuppance it deserves.

Land of the Dead goes a bit farther in humanizing the zombies than Romero usually does. There is a sense that they are man come full circle. They begin to form packs, discover rudimentary tools, overcome fears and defend themselves. Pure and irrational hunger is not the only driving force any longer. In fact, it seems as though Romero wants to make it clear that these zombies have discovered anger as an emotion and the ability to seek what they believe is justice begins to drive them. Some shots in the movie make you believe that Romero wants us to glimpse things from their point of view—they are destroyed without a second thought, often to whoops of laughter. But one zombie, sadly trying to regain what he can remember from life, decides enough is enough. He decries the mindless wandering around, forms a sort of social structure, and attempts to fight back.

Draw your own conclusions about Romero’s social commentary, that’s part of the fun of his movies. I will only say that the leading zombie being African American does not appear to be accidental. There are many different things Romero might be trying to say here and I don’t want to spoil it by delving too deeply into my take on it. Watch it yourself and give me some theories. This should be interesting.

For the best and most entertaining review I have seen of this movie check out Aint it Cool. This is one of those sites by film geeks that usually has some merit. This review in particular is passionate and I think pretty articulate. Check it out. Although this particular reviewer lost a lot of credibility in my eyes by recently naming Hustle and Flow as his number one movie of ’05. That was disappointing.