stianchrister

This is your typical zombie film, but compared to a lot of other zombie films, I would have to say that this one really stands out from the hordes (pun intended).

The basic premise of the story is something like this: A woman running for mayor, a homosexual couple trying to come out of the closet, a father and daughter from Iran (not Iraq) come together with a band of religious folk during a zombie outbreak. There's a lot of room for hilarity, and a lot of room to send a message in this basic premise. Of course, it never really gets there, but it does play with the possibilities. In many ways, the film kind of leaves me with blue balls, because I really felt upon watching it, that this could be awesome. It could've turned out to be extremely funny, and a zombie classic to stand right up there alongside Shaun of the Dead. Sadly, that is not the case, as the film simply doesn't go as far as it could've gone.

One of the biggest pluses is that the characters are extremely well-written, and come across as pretty nice people. In fact, one of the biggest pitfalls of B-movies is that the characters don't seem like real people, but rather machines to be put out for torture. These characters actually seem like people, and that's a massive plus.

In terms of the cinematography, this film looks pretty good. If you're expecting 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead remake-like blood, guts and gore, you'll be disappointed. There are some special effects, but there aren't a ton of them. I don't think they had the budget to make the special effects a huge thing, but I certainly do think that with the budget they had, this film looks pretty damn sweet. Good cinematography, good editing - overall pretty well done technically.

All in all, it's a film with great potential that doesn't quite live up to its potential. The story could've used some tightening up, and if they really tightened up the script and got a stronger theme out of it, this film could've been a low budget classic.

A very well-executed movie in terms of directing and acting, and it's a decent watch for anyone who enjoys a good mafia movie, or a yakuza movie as the case may be. However, there is nothing new on display. It blends in with the masses and masses of movies in its genre.

Throughout the entire movie, I kept feeling a sense of lack. This lack was a lack of sympathy you feel for these characters, and the lack of understanding for the system on display. You don't understand what's going on until about an hour into the movie, and by then it's a little too late to care. There's a little too much shooting first, and too few questions asked. I believe Kitano really tried to write a movie that could stand among classics like Scarface and the Godfather in terms of epics, but fell short.

However, I would say the movie is worth a watch, if only to see what the movie could've been.