“George A Romero’s Land of the Dead” (Universal Pictures)
In 1978 George A Romero created “Dawn of the Dead,” a zombie marathon that developed a cult following. Now he has returned to moviemaking and gives us “Land of the Dead,” a continuation of his zombie attack. He should have spared himself the trouble and us the boredom. This is a movie about already dead killers, who look like they are sleepwalking, that is guaranteed to put the audience to sleep.
The time of the movie is the present and the zombies have taken over most of the world, or so it appears. A man named Riley (Simon Baker) leads a team out at night to hunt down supplies. One of the members of his team is a man named Cholo (John Leguizamo).
The employer of these men is a rich man named Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). He lives in a guarded city named Fiddler’s Green. It is protected by gates and a river so the zombies can not reach it, unless they suddenly start to think. And that is what happens. For some reason they begin to use logic.
Riley makes the acquaintance of a street tough girl named Slack (Asia Argento) and they combine forces for one more job for Kaufman. Time is running out again for the “normal” humans as the zombies have gotten smarter.
Most of the movie is just one scene after another where the zombies munch on human flesh. It is amazing that a bunch of bumbling, stumbling, fumbling zombies can catch, capture and eat fleet footed humans.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence and brief nudity.
One has to wonder why actors of the caliber of Hopper, Baker and Leguizamo would indulge themselves by being in such an awful film. There is nothing in it the least bit scary and nothing the least bit interesting.
“Land of the Dead” is definitely the movie of the dumb. Surely it won’t become a cult film. It is too sluggish and plodding to even reap that type of honor.
I scored “Land of the Dead” a stumbling 3 out of 10.
