Review of The Crazies (2010) by Filipeneto — 30 Oct 2020

I just realized, after some reading, that this film is a remake of another film, already forgotten, from the Seventies. I will not be able to compare them, I have never seen him, but I will see. What I can say, surely, is that this film did not enchant me and I expected something more. The film is good enough to be worth it, but I don't know if I would be interested in seeing it a second time. I don't think it justifies it.

All the action takes place in a small village in the North American Midwest, where a mysterious virus is causing a terrible contagious disease that spreads through the air and makes people go crazy and start behaving like psychopaths and murdering other people just because. The film does not enter into big rounds, nor does it present much of the situation: like the inhabitants of that place, we too are surprised and do not know exactly what is happening. From here, the film follows the attempts of the local sheriff and his assistant to leave the city without being arrested or even killed by the army, which invades the region.

The film is not bad, but its loaded with clichés and uninspired scenes without originality, as if the director, Breck Eisner, had no confidence or interest in what he was doing and decided to just imitate "The Walking Dead" and other similar material. In addition, this film has a mostly average or mediocre cast, which neither shines nor adds anything truly good to the film. The exceptions are Timothy Olyphant and Joe Anderson, who gave life to the sheriff and his assistant in a competent and very committed way, where they would have surely achieved a better result with better material.

At a technical level, its a film that fulfills what it promises: it has good cinematography and the sets and costumes are realistic and quite pleasant, but these are features that we could almost demand. The film keeps a pleasant pace, the visual, special and sound effects are very good and realistic. What I think was quite exaggerated was the creation of a whole ending so absolutely cataclysmic that it becomes far-fetched, like a parody. Finally, a word for the good soundtrack, which fulfills its role well.