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MOVIE CRITIQUE:
If you are a fan of George A. Romero's classic zombie movies of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, then you will not
want to miss this British import that some are proclaiming will soon become a cult classic. Romero is the undisputed king
of zombie movies with his cinematic screenwriting trilogy, 1968's "Night of the Living Dead," 1978's "Dawn
of the Dead," and 1985's "Day of the Dead." In fact, some of his movies are being reissued as part of Hollywood's
current mania for ripping off the creativity of the past.
This movie is more than an homage to Romero; it is a worshipful ode to Romero. Even its title is suggestive of Romero
with the rhyme between "Dawn" and "Shaun," as in "Shaun of the Dead" versus "Dawn of the
Dead."
I would have to be deaf, dumb and blind, in short, a zombie myself, if I were not already aware of the wildly enthusiastic
rating of 91% that this movie has received from the rest of the nation's film critics as compiled by the RottenTomatoes web
site. I am familiar with this genre, but movies about zombies have never appealed to me before. In this case, however, I made
the decision to see this film based on the favorable comments by so many other film critics as well as some comments that
I have received from a few readers of my site. After all, there always comes a time when we must try something new and different.
I will admit to no small inability in the writing of my review for this film as this is admittedly the first zombie movie
that I have ever seen. In general, I don't particularly care for "stupid" and zombies are nothing if not stupid.
My preference for the undead is much more to the side of vampires, because at least with a vampire you have an enemy possessing
near immortality along with a potent mix of brains, cunning, and unearthly powers far beyond those of us mortals.
This makes any contest of survival between humans and vampires of considerable interest. The same cannot be said of the
contest between zombies and humans, or between their cousins, the Frankenstein type monsters, and humans.
And while vampires are equally capable of creating more of their kind, they seem to do so with considerable reluctance.
Likewise, this cannot be said of zombies as every zombie movie has the set overrun with these grotesquely ugly creatures.
The critical observation has to be made that zombies would never make it to star billing in any movie were it not for
the fact that there are always so many of them. After all, a vampire movie needs only one vampire. A Frankenstein movie needs
only one Frankenstein. A werewolf movie needs only one werewolf. But a zombie movie needs literally thousands of zombies.
They are only frightening in the aggregate, not in the singular.
Forgive me for giving away the ending of "Shaun of the Dead," but the point has to be made that this movie winds
up very quickly when the military comes in and dispatches the zombies with relative ease. I have to assume that logic would
dictate that the British equivalent of our Center for Disease Control would spring into action if even one zombie were found
to be lurking about. That wouldn't make for much of a movie, but logic also has to question as to why London is overrun with
so many of them before the soldiers arrive.
On another point, "Shaun of the Dead" is a modern British import that gives a less than interesting view of
the lives of the aimless lower class either on the dole or stuck in dead end jobs with their nihilistic view of the world
order. Fortunately, this turns out to be the setup, as annoying as this is, as the lead deadhead, Shaun (Simon Pegg), is soon
shocked out of his lethargy by the sudden appearance of all of these undead killers.
And that is the one brilliant aspect of this movie, which is the fact that these "dead to the world" nihilists
experience the ultimate nightmare of running into the only thing out there besides a rock that is more dead to the world than
they are.
I will happily grant the fact that "Shaun of the Dead" satirizes this aimlessness and, in actuality, the entire
thrust of this movie is placing them in a situation that will shock these deadheads out of their self-imposed lethargy back
into the land of the living as thinking, creative, and proactive personalities. Unfortunately, the last two scenes of this
movie give rise to my fear that their improvement is momentary at best.
Simon Pegg, as the couch potato Shaun, is the co-writer of the script for this film along with the film's director, Edgar
Wright. He has a very pleasing comic presence which promises that he will be crossing "the Pond" in many more movies
to come. The same goes for his costar and the object of his romantic intentions, Kate Ashfield, who is equally likable as
a screen presence. I can only hope that they soon will be starring in real "Grade A" movies and not remain forever
locked in "Grade A" B movies like "Shaun of the Dead."
I found this movie to be amusing in a tongue in cheek kind of way and quite humorous in its several original scenes. "Shaun
of the Dead" is not quite my cup of British tea for either comedy or romance, but there is enough here to recommend this
movie if you don't mind the incessant use of vulgarity and the overuse of the "F" word. While their many deadly
and near deadly encounters might warrant the occasional use of this word, I didn't have to hear it being used in almost every
other sentence. I am sure that Romero got along just fine without using this word even once.
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MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
A foursome of young Brits are down at the Winchester Pub in London when one of them, Liz (Kate Ashfield), complains to
her long time boyfriend, Shaun (Simon Pegg), that this is all they ever do and she is so very bored by it all. All they do
every night, night after night, is to meet at this same pub for a few beers. It is like this pub is Shaun's home away from
home. Well, it IS his home away from home, and Liz wants to do something different, like go to the theater, perhaps, but Shaun
remains distinctly uninspired by her comments. Theater? He doesn't like theater.
What she really wants, however, is to be a couple, but the continued presence of Shaun's best friend, Ed (Nick Frost),
as the proverbial fifth wheel at their table every night always seems to muck up her plans for a more romantic setting for
just the two of them.
Quietly observing this contretemps are their friends and fellow pub mates, David (Dylan Morris) and Dianne (Lucy Davis).
Liz and Diane are sisters and they share a flat with David, who has been the long time boyfriend of Dianne even though both
Shaun and Dianne suspect that he harbors secret feelings for Liz.
Shaun and Ed jovially chat with each other and it is apparent to Liz that Ed is more important to Shaun than she is. Liz
is so disappointed by Shaun's lack of interest in trying anything different with her that she breaks up with him. He takes
this change in his life with relative equanimity due to all the beer that he has consumed. Neither he nor Dianne say anything
at the moment, but both fear that this breakup will give David the opening that he needs to break up with Dianne and begin
a relationship with her sister.
The evening goes from bad to worse for Shaun as he spies his stepfather, Philip (Bill Nighy), in the crowd. Leaving the
table, he goes over to find out what he wants. The two have been estranged for a long time and their relationship is testy
at best. Philip reminds Shaun that his mother's, (Barbara, Penelope Wilton), birthday is the next day and to be sure to be
on time for dinner and to bring her some flowers, and not any cheap bouquet, mind you. Shaun accedes to his request as he
dearly loves his "mum."
Shaun and Ed leave the pub together for their walk home. They notice, but are uninvolved by, a couple necking near a telephone
booth by the pub entrance, the same couple that had been necking there hours before when they had entered the pub. They walk
down the street oblivious to the one lover biting off the head of the other lover behind them.
On the way home the two revelers see another man lurching down a side street and his guttural grunts and the cadence of
his steps match the song that they are singing. It all seems like great fun as they raise their voices in a louder chorus.
Shaun has a lowly day job in a store, but the next morning is just another day off for these fellow couch potatoes as
Shaun and Ed flip the channels on the "telly" or play a video game together. Their landlord, Pete (Peter Serafinowicz),
comes in as always before he leaves for work and after he comes home from work. Each time he complains about the messy condition
of the living room with empty cans of pop and dried chips scattered about. He does not like Ed at all and he wishes that Shaun
would kick him out of the flat.
Pete complains about not feeling very well. It seems that he had been mugged on the way home and the mugger bit him on
the hand before he was able to escape.
Shaun and Ed don't know it yet, but it is going to get a lot messier from here on out. They casually surf the channels
and the newscasters are obviously announcing a disaster that is occurring, but the two mopes flip before they can hear what
is really happening. News is not their thing.
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