Zombie of Errors
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)
Shaun of the Dead erupts with a magical zest, and resurrects the poor, shambling movie genre back into some semblance of life.
Shaun of the Dead gives us the improbable 29 year-old Londoner Shaun (Simon Pegg) as its hero.
Shaun lives with two flatmates, the responsible Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) and the sloth-like Ed (Nick Frost).
Stuck between the two, Shaun longs for the carefree bachelor life but doesn't want to lose his girlfriend. Liz (Kate Ashfield) wants to start doing more grown-up things, which includes leaving Ed behind.
The movie carefully and humorously sets up this essential conflict before springing the zombies on us. As in Romero's films, we understand completely who we're dealing with before the zombies come, so we can follow them ever more closely into battle. As confused and indecisive as he is in his normal life, Shaun turns out to be a natural leader during a crisis.
Shaun wakes up, hung over completely unaware of the copious dead bodies, blood and lurching zombies all over London. (He mistakes one for a homeless man.)
Once it occurs to Shaun and Ed what's going on, they formulate a plan. Gather up their loved ones and convene at the pub, where they can listen to music, eat crisps and drink until the whole thing blows over.
Meanwhile, through trial and error, they decide on an anti-zombie weapon of choice. One of their early attempts includes throwing LP records. In one of the movie's greatest scenes, Shaun and Ed go through Shaun's collection, deciding which albums to sacrifice. The Stone Roses? No. Prince's Batman soundtrack? Throw it.
Shaun of the Dead never stops being clever and inventive, as well as brisk and funny. They handle the "action" scenes with gorgeous clarity. A very funny sequence takes place just before Shaun and Ed devise their grand plan; they come up with a couple of failed ideas first, and Wright shows them to us in imaginative flash-forwards with whooshing camerawork and snappy editing.
Even more improbably, Wright gets in a few serious moments as the characters mourn for lost friends and loved ones, without tipping the film's balance.
The ending is spot-on, avoiding the usual "twist" that Hollywood is so fond of these days and settling instead for a couple of very funny codas. It could be a major cult discovery along the lines of Memento or Donnie Darko, but with Romero himself singing its praises, it deserves to be a phenomenon
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)
Shaun of the Dead erupts with a magical zest, and resurrects the poor, shambling movie genre back into some semblance of life.
Shaun of the Dead gives us the improbable 29 year-old Londoner Shaun (Simon Pegg) as its hero.
Shaun lives with two flatmates, the responsible Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) and the sloth-like Ed (Nick Frost).
Stuck between the two, Shaun longs for the carefree bachelor life but doesn't want to lose his girlfriend. Liz (Kate Ashfield) wants to start doing more grown-up things, which includes leaving Ed behind.
The movie carefully and humorously sets up this essential conflict before springing the zombies on us. As in Romero's films, we understand completely who we're dealing with before the zombies come, so we can follow them ever more closely into battle. As confused and indecisive as he is in his normal life, Shaun turns out to be a natural leader during a crisis.
Shaun wakes up, hung over completely unaware of the copious dead bodies, blood and lurching zombies all over London. (He mistakes one for a homeless man.)
Once it occurs to Shaun and Ed what's going on, they formulate a plan. Gather up their loved ones and convene at the pub, where they can listen to music, eat crisps and drink until the whole thing blows over.
Meanwhile, through trial and error, they decide on an anti-zombie weapon of choice. One of their early attempts includes throwing LP records. In one of the movie's greatest scenes, Shaun and Ed go through Shaun's collection, deciding which albums to sacrifice. The Stone Roses? No. Prince's Batman soundtrack? Throw it.
Shaun of the Dead never stops being clever and inventive, as well as brisk and funny. They handle the "action" scenes with gorgeous clarity. A very funny sequence takes place just before Shaun and Ed devise their grand plan; they come up with a couple of failed ideas first, and Wright shows them to us in imaginative flash-forwards with whooshing camerawork and snappy editing.
Even more improbably, Wright gets in a few serious moments as the characters mourn for lost friends and loved ones, without tipping the film's balance.
The ending is spot-on, avoiding the usual "twist" that Hollywood is so fond of these days and settling instead for a couple of very funny codas. It could be a major cult discovery along the lines of Memento or Donnie Darko, but with Romero himself singing its praises, it deserves to be a phenomenon
posted by Jaskeerat at 10:56 PM
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