Film: Land of the Dead

Directed by: George A. Romero

Year: 2005

Starring: Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento

Reviewed by: The Zombieslayer

The fourth in Romero's Dead zombie movies series - This time around, the human race is in shambles. The movie focuses on a city/fortress run by an evil capitalist. Whereas other non-Romero zombie movies don't have as much of a political point to it, this one made some serious statements about class. You had a situation where one super-rich guy controlled everything, you had an unarmed middle-class and a working class/everyone else. The leader of the city only let "the beautiful people" into the main building while the working class did all the work, took all the risks, and were basically like the Proles in 1984.

One thing I liked was that you had a genuine hero in this one. He had a pure heart and it wasn't any of that reluctant hero crap that Hollywood has overdone to the point that I think the next time I see one of those reluctant hero movies, I'm walking out and getting my money back.

The hero also had a best friend, a burn victim, who was plain out cool. So we had people to root for.

John Leguizamo played a maverick and he did a wonderful job at it. His character had a lot of depth. I've always liked him as an actor too.

The weird thing about the movie is this time around, the zombies actually learn. They can now hold things and use blunt weapons. One even learns to pump gas and fire a gun. He even sort of had a girlfriend (or maybe I was reading into it, she was the chick with the hole in her face) and did a mercy killing of another zombie. It wasn't poorly done though and it did work. Keep in mind that zombies still do have brains, although of course not in as good as shape as yours or mine. They still can only verbally communicate through grunts.

As an educational film, it definitely had its moments. Of course it showed why someone who shoots one shot one kill instead of full-automatic is better in an anti-zombie situation. It also shows very graphically why you shouldn't have piercings on your body. The people who fooled around of course all died horrible deaths as did innocent people who took orders from those people. And of course unarmed people all got killed. I'm telling ya, you better buy those guns while you still can.

I'm still debating if this is my favorite zombie movie of all time. I like Ben slightly better as my "anti-zombie hero." But with this one, I love the fact that there's actually a character who is "The Man." Definite bonus for that. Dennis Hopper was awesome as that character. Another bonus is the casting of Asia Argento. If I'm fighting zombies and want a hot chick by my side, it would definitely be Asia Argento. 10 dead zombies.

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