Spence
Fresh meat
Joined: 31-Dec-1969
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| Subject: My view of the "Dawn" remake | Date: Tue 28-Jun-2005, 15:41:29 | |  |
The movie does not bother me at all. In fact, I quite enjoyed some of the things about it. Firstly, I'll confess that I've got it bad for Sarah Polley. I've liked her ever since I saw her in "Go." [Great flick, by the way. Netflix it.] Like Romero, I thought the first 20 minutes of the movie were incredible. Also a great credits scene and the decision to use Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" as a theme song was brilliant. I also liked that they hinted at what had happened elsewhere in the world. I know that's too big a subject for any one movie to take on, but I was glad they hinted at it.
The reason I don't hate "Dawn" at all is because I don't judge it by Romero standards. If I did, I would probably feel different about it. I just divorce the movie completely from Romero because the filmmakers did that, too. Sure, they used the title and the mall, but they changed just about everything else -- including the ending. I decided to just judge the movie on its own merits, as if it had nothing to do with Romero because it didn't have anything to do with Romero.
By those standards I found it to be an enjoyable movie. I wouldn't want Romero making that sort of flick and I'm sure he never would. The "Dawn" remake is certainly no replacement for any of the Romero movies, but judging it on its own, I found it to be just fine.
I view the whole issue of "fast zombies" the same way. If I had directed the film I probably would have made them fast, too. Why? Well, because I wouldn't want to do a Romero movie with Romero zombies. It's not possible to do a Romero movie nearly as well as the man himself. He invented the genre and any attempt to copy him is doomed to failure. Therefore, I'd have made the zombies fast just so they were not anything like Romero's zombies. It's important to be different because EVERYONE who copies Romero winds up looking foolish.
Just to be clear: I am not suggesting I liked this movie more than the original or any of the Romero films. I'm a Romero fan and I prefer Romero movies. However, taking Romero out of the equation, since he had almost no relation to this remake at all, I judged the movie to be fine. It's not a Romero movie. It'll never be confused with a Romero movie.
I don't think it makes you "disloyal" to Romero if you enjoyed the "Dawn" remake. The two don't really have anything to do with each other. |
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My view of the "Dawn" remake