Land of the Dead (2005)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer (WGA):

George A. Romero (written by)

Release Date:

24 June 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The dead shall inherit the Earth.

Plot:

The living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.

Plot Keywords:

Skyscraper | River | Truck | Mercenary | Shot In The Chest

Awards:

7 nominations

Cast

Simon Baker	...	Riley
John Leguizamo	...	Cholo
Dennis Hopper	...	Kaufman
Asia Argento	...	Slack
Robert Joy	...	Charlie
Eugene Clark	...	Big Daddy
Joanne Boland	...	Pretty Boy
Tony Nappo	...	Foxy
Jennifer Baxter	...	Number 9
Boyd Banks	...	Butcher
Jasmin Geljo	...	Tambourine Man
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos	...	Mouse
Tony Munch	...	Anchor
Shawn Roberts	...	Mike
Pedro Miguel Arce	...	Pillsbury

Also Known As:

Dead Reckoning (USA) (working title)
George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (USA) (complete title)
La terre des morts (Canada: French title)
Land of the Dead - Le territoire des morts (France)
Twilight of the Dead (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and gore, language, brief sexuality and some drug use.

Runtime:

93 min | 97 min (director's cut)

Country:

Canada | France | USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Italian | Polish | French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Portugal:M/16 | Philippines:R-13 | Taiwan:R-18 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Indonesia:Dewasa | Hong Kong:III (director's cut) | Peru:14 | Czech Republic:15 | Malaysia:18SG | Ireland:15A (re-rating on appeal) | Ireland:18 (original rating) | UK:15 | Iceland:16 | Chile:Y7 | France:-12 | Canada:18A | USA:R (certificate #41825) | Ukraine:(Banned) | Mexico:C | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Australia:MA | Denmark:15 | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Finland:K-18 | Norway:15 | Singapore:R21 | Argentina:13 | Brazil:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Germany:18 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Japan:PG-12

Filming Locations:

Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

There were four titles before "Land of the Dead" was chosen: "Dead City," "Dead Reckoning," "Twilight of the Dead," and "Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Riley makes a run for "Dead Reckoning" after lowering the drawbridge, he is clearly aiming far left of the first zombie he "shoots".

Quotes:

Kaufman: [talking about Cholo] You're dead. You really are *dead*!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Land of the Dead: Bringing the Dead to Life (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Bombardment

Not bad, but not great

Land of the Dead - The 4th part of George A. Romero's zombie quadrillogy. It's been decades since the dead began to walk the Earth, and now they practically own it (except for Canada for some reason). There is one last little mega-city that is surrounded by electric fences, armed patrols and barbed wire on one side, and nothing but water on all other four sides, because the dead supposedly don't like water. Despite the fact that the surrounding lands are rife with zombies, this metropolis is incredibly corrupt. All thanks to evil bureaucrat Kaufman (Dennis Hooper, who I had a ball watching) who makes all but a select few rich folks (who have never seen or fought a real zombie) live in slums. There you can get your picture taken with zombies, or watch zombie fights (they fight over animals and the occasional human). There are a few mercenaries paid to make runs in a giant tank truck for precious commodities in the outside world.

Now I like George and could thank him endlessly for starting the zombie franchise, but he has always favored gore just a little more over character development, and has always liked his zombies just a LOT more than his humans. Heck in this movie, the zombies are practically the good-guys! They're just like you and me, except they rip people's arms in two (and I do mean length-wise) and tear belly button rings out of people. They are actually pretty intelligent and moderately fast at walking. By far the biggest threats in Romero's movies (most notably "Big Daddy" (Eugene Clark). For the most part though, it works, and it's good gory fun. Except the character development thingy. While I don't begrudge Romero for having fun with his zombies, I wasn't too sympathetic to Riley (Simon Baker) or Slack (Asia Argento). Riley, like Romero it seems, is just tired of character development as he has Riley say "I'm fed up with back-stories". But Riley dear boy, that's how the audience grows to care about you. Slack almost kills several of her fellow team-mates and does not grow at all, but that's the script's fault. Both of these characters, however are played well for what the actors are given.

Surprisingly the secondary characters are far more endearing. Cholo (John Leguizamo) was not only believable as a merc, but I was quite sympathetic to him as he realized that he was a pon. "Pilsbury" (Pedro Miguel Arce) and Charlie (Robert Joy) are endearing and funny.

So the effects are good. The story is iffy. The acting is good. The character development is iffy. The ending is really lame. This gets an overall B