Dawn of the Dead (2004)

A reconception of the 1978 Romero title, Dawn of the Dead (2004) ratcheted up the violence and action significantly, forming the foundation of its identity. However, what it gained in gore it lost in grace.

While the film keeps the strong core concept of the Romero title, we see the characters and stories are altered significantly. This leads to a more varied cast of characters, but a higher variability in overall performance quality. Thankfully, the characters are secondary to the things which are happening to them.

The mall was refitted before filming to give it a unique identity through signage and color. As a fun reference, we see a story called "Gaylen Ross" named after the actress from the original who played Fran.

The themes of the original are lost amongst the high-octane combat sequences, with the mall doing little work in commenting on consumerism, and the instinct to hoard and stay in place being less intense as our cast of characters ultimately make a haphazard escape. The human antagonists are also recentered to be a part of our core group, depriving us of the showdown seen in the original.

The color grading is perhaps a little overbearing but does manage to fit the film's bloody aesthetic. Many shots are quite short, jumping between the characters' facial expressions quickly, creating a visual census of the mood in the room. Slow-mo is used, with some instances being more indulgent than others. Visual storytelling is evident and effective, most prominently in the whiteboards used to communicate with Andy, the stranded gun store owner.

The main weaknesses of this film can be found in its story, which often spends time on the wrong things and has very little to say that is non-literal. While it does not aim to be a cerebral movie, the source material did pursue its thematic ambitions, so this is an unfortunate recharacterization of the story.

Grisly and gratuitous, Dawn of the Dead (2004) may not be a thoughtful movie, but it will remain a mainstay amongst horror and zombie viewers.