Zombieland and Sweeney Todd
So, both movies were pretty GD awesome. Zombieland was kind of like an American attempt at zombedy much like Shaun of the Dead put a uniquely British spin on the genre. It’s not subtle. At all. But it was definitely a fun movie, even for those who may not generally go for the Zed word. Partake in the awesomeness of Zombieland and Sweeney Todd
October 3, 2009 at 10:51 am | Random | 2 comments
George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead
Be warned, this is a LONG entry, but it touches on a lot. Even racism! Woo hoo!
So, to treat myself tonight while I’m holed up with a bad back and two (now) unused tickets for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes game, I decided to watch George Romero’s most recent foray into the canon he himself crafted: the zombie genre. If you’re unaware, the foray of which I speak is Diary of the Dead, a film that looks to re-invent the “of the Dead” series.
The plot follows the typical zombie fare—reasonably attractive individuals realize something screwy is happening and then try to escape their shambling pursuers, with a number of them dying/coming back/dying again. While it doesn’t sound much like a re-invention, Romero himself explains that this is a story about the beginning of the outbreak, the first few days (much like Night of the Living Dead) not a continuation as seen in the previous three movies succeeding Night (Dawn, Day and Land).
Another piece of this un-dead puzzle is that the entire film is supposedly seen through the lens of a student-filmmaker who is using prosumer HD cameras to capture and re-tell the events that transpired. Throughout, there are also clips interspersed that have been downloaded from the internet, clips that build upon the myth and give it a truly global reach. While this is a novel idea and gives this zombie movie a new, emotional and involving twist, it also causes the film to feel a little bit shaky (metaphorically more so than literally).
First of all, if you haven’t seen a movie shot in POV, then go watch The Blair Witch Project and/or Cloverfield. I’ll wait until you’ve had the chance to watch them.
Done? Good.
Now, go watch Diary of the Dead. See the difference? Now, I understand that Diary opens with the main heroine, Deb, explaining that the movie we’re about to watch was shot on two HD cameras and was cut by her on a laptop. Okay, Romero, you’ve covered your butt. However, when you actually watch the film, it feels anything BUT home-made.
What’s that Mr. Romero? All of the protagonists are in film school? That would explain how their shots are all expertly framed and how, in general, the action is pretty well in-focus. But, the protagonists’ credentials don’t excuse the high-quality YouTube footage of a girl in Tokyo or a couple of rednecks who sure as hell wouldn’t have the cash to purchase an HD camera, let alone the chops to edit the footage. Add to that all of the astonishingly high-quality surveillance equipment and the viewer will have to suspend disbelief in order to accept that a good chunk of this movie is supposedly “found footage.”
My other issue with the filming is that there wasn’t any humanity in it. People are being attacked, and the camera rolls. Scratch that—BOTH cameras roll. There were a plethora of scenes in which I wanted to scream at the TWO people holding the cameras when one of their friends is being eaten no more than three feet away. Who cares if you can’t see the zombie’s head explode; put the damned camera down and help your friend.
Oh, wait—everybody is dead and so you have to hold the camera because the only other living person is currently being attacked. Oh now it all makes sense. For a moment I thought it was just that you were a jerk, but instead it’s because you’re an ass. Nice job, ass. I hope your friend comes back to life and chews on your face.
For me I had problems connecting to characters who failed to come to the aid of their good friends for the sake of getting it all on camera. I watched a lot of blurry, shaky ground and feet and darkness in Cloverfield and still hope that more people will survive the next time I watch it. Diary left me feeling kind of empty.
However, I suppose some of that emptiness was due, in part, to the ham-fistedness of the cardboard cutouts who were on-screen. I will admit that all of the stereotypes that I expected were broken half-way through the film and everyone settled into their characters. It just sucks that all the characters were pretty much the same. It sucked even more that “the same” was angsty, clichéd and fairly unlikeable. I shouldn’t be rooting for a person to live just because I know that someone HAS to live.
And what was with the weird racist vibe I got from all of the black characters? At one point in the film, the protagonists get ambushed by a trio of powerful and armed black men. After being taken to their hideout, an exchange occurs in which one of the captors explains their reasoning for staying behind saying something to the extent of “We’re finally in power. When all of this went down, everyone without a sun tan left.” Maybe it’s because I just read a couple articles on whites vs. the world and watched American History X, but here is how I break down this group of decidedly “outsider” individuals:
1) The black men and women are ALL big and strong. It’s like that one Vogue cover with Lebronn and Gisele; I would like to be the first person to welcome back loaded stereotypes and will do so with a firm handshake and warm smile. I really missed you.
2) What’s the deal with the power comment? They’re 65 miles from Scranton, PA; while I understand that America subconsciously holds racism close to its heart, wouldn’t that area have been northern territory from the start? Had they been in the deep south, I would have understood the implications. Could you have made it any more implicit that as soon as white guys drop their guard, black people will rise up and take control? And now that I think of it, I don’t remember any non-white zombies anywhere in the film.
3) I sure am glad that, in a moment of confusion, the black people kill a non-zombie black man on accident and a white guy saves the day by killing the actual black zombie. Thank heavens that a white guy was there to save the others from themselves.
And I guess this leads me to my final disappointment with the film. One of the things Romero has been lauded for is his ability to weave social commentary into his horror stories. Night of the Living Dead? Race and paranoia. Dawn of the Dead? Mass consumerism and humanity’s emotional shortcomings. Day of the Dead? Military control, seclusion and the balance of force vs. reasoning. Land of the Dead? Mass paranoia, again, and the failures of public reliance on the perceptual good-intentions of governing bodies. Don’t worry, I’m not going to say that Diary does not have a social commentary. It does. And, thankfully, it’s made glaringly obvious in the first 5 minutes of the movie. And it’s not told through anecdote or action or subtlety; it’s beat into your brain by a voice-over. It’s kind of like admitting that the movie wasn’t quite good enough on its own without explaining it to the audience.
Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it’s definitely not my favorite zombie movie. The idea was novel, but the execution was lacking. Kudos to Romero, though, for re-defining the of the Dead mythos but I think that to succeed, the series is going to need a little more punch to re-animate its shambling, undead roots.