Review of Dawn of the Dead (2004) by Talisencrw — 16 Jan 2016

Though I love both 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' and 'Watchmen', I actually think Snyder's remake of George A. Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' may be his finest and most personal work of the three.

Usually I stay away from contemporary remakes of the classics like the plague, because to me, atmosphere is everything, and today's directors tend to significantly miss that point, but sometimes I just can't stop myself, and it helped that two recent character actors I really respect (fellow Canadian Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames) played significant roles.

Though I still prefer the satirical angle on consumerism Romero utilized in his 70's original (and for that reason alone it would make a great double bill with 'Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom', at least from Pier Paolo Pasolini's philosophical context), this is head and shoulders (shot, of course, so it doesn't come back as a zombie) above other remakes of this era.

I wish Snyder still had the sense of hunger that permeates this first film of his (pardon the pun ;) )...