Let me start by saying I'm a big fan of George Romero's previous films, especially the dead series. I thought he really hit his stride with Day of the Dead making a slick, structurally sophisticated continuation of his original idea. Not many people can pull off a sequel and I thought he did it twice with Dawn and Day. I also think he had something quite interesting to say with each of those films, layering thematic commentary under the story without distracting from main story elements or themes. His films were always about the shortcomings of man and the inability to work together in the face of danger. His films were always about the people, not the zombies.

But now he has tried so hard to make a political statement that he has hammered into his own genre at the expense of the film. It was interesting in Day when the scientist discovers that a zombie can regain some latent memory and begin to function in a more human way. I was very powerful when that zombie musters up just enough motor skill and latent memory to shoot the villain. It feels like a stretch to say that the zombies, or even the one zombie, in Land could make a conversion of understanding that leads an all out revolt. On an intellectual level, I understand it, but it just didn't work for me. This seems to me like a bigger deviation from the Romero concept then some of the things complained about in the many Romero inspired films recently.

The world described in the previews and press material doesn't seem fully realized. There is a huge divide between the rich and the poor. Why? How did it get that way. It doesn't seem like that would function well under the circumstances of the world as it is, especially in a small society. Why don't we find out anything about how this place works? How does Denis Hopper maintain his power? It is presented as a concept without any real thought. In the original film "The Island of Lost Souls" Doctor Moreau controls his population of beasts with fear. He cracks the whip, recites the law, and talks about the house of pain, which the audience knows to be the doctor's laboratory, but the beasts know it as a building where screams are heard. This is a stunningly well designed political metaphor. In Land of the Dead, I couldn't help thinking that the underlying political message was driving the story and that questionable things were written into the story for the wrong reasons. Money is a major plot device. Denis Hopper tries to escape the city with two large bags of money. What good is money outside the city? I was wondering, what good is money inside the city? Money only works if people believe in the underlying value of it. Most countries in the real world can't keep a stable currency. There is an aerial shot of the city during the day showing the streets deserted. Why are the streets deserted? Where are all the people? Later we see the same shot only the streets are now filled with Zombies. The characters keep talking about going to Canada as a safe haven. Why? Why is Canada safer than the United States. I was left to believe that this was more political commentary. Why are the Zombies trying to get to the city? They seem to be driven by some underlying, dare I say it, political motivation.

The film as a whole seemed less like a story of characters in a horrific world established in the earlier films, and more like a series of one dimensional vignettes based on thin political ideology – Rich verses poor, violence in America, mismanagement of government in post 9-11 society, negotiating with terrorists, yeah we get it. Not so subtle.

This film was one that made me excited when I heard it was coming to theaters. This would have been my senior year of high school. My father introduce me and my sister to the trilogy at the time and this would be the first one that came to theaters in my life. We went to see this as a family and I really liked it. I've seen it quite a few times throughout the years on top of that. The synopsis here is 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.

We begin with filling in the history of what has happened to the world. We know thatit has been overrun with zombies. We then learn that people have created safe places to live. This film revolves around Pittsburgh that is now known by the high-rise where all of the rich live, called Fiddler's Green.

It then shifts to the leader of a unit that goes out to collect supplies and bring it back to the city. His name is Riley Denbo (Simon Baker). He is joined by his friend of Charlie (Robert Joy). Later we will learn that Charlie was burned in a fire and half of his face shows the results of it. Riley did save him and he now feels he owes his life to him. He is a crack shot though so it works out.

This unit is scouting a town for supplies. They see zombies, but one of them draws Riley's attention. He is a former gas station attendant going by the name of Big Daddy (Eugene Clark). Some zombies step on the bell that announces a car is there. He comes out to gas it up, but finds there is nothing there. It seems he knows he is being watched and looks in the direction of Riley. He moans and zombies turn in that direction and head toward them. Riley believes they are thinking and communicating.

Baker's second in command is Cholo DeMora (John Leguizamo). He is dumping trash and we notice that there are bodies in it. He does the dirty work for the big boss of Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) and is trying to buy his way into Fiddler's Green.

This group goes about raiding this town of supplies. They have a giant truck by the name of Dead Reckoning. It is equipped with armor, machine guns, missiles and even has a launcher to send up fireworks. These are used to distract the zombies. Riley and his crew go about collecting supplies. There's a new guy in the team that goes with Cholo and his crew. They go to get booze and it results in the new guy getting bit. This is supposed to be Riley's last run and he didn't want anyone to die. This upsets him and causes everyone to head back in.

Cholo thinks it is his last run too. He thinks he has enough to buy his way into Fiddler's Green. He learns though that Kaufman won't allow it. He tries to politely reject Cholo who doesn't take it well. He goes about stealing Dead Reckoning and holding Kaufman along with Fiddler's Green hostage until he gets the ransom he demands.

During this, Riley goes to check on the car he bought and sees it is gone. Through interactions he goes to a local bar looking for Chihuahua (Phil Fondacaro), the guy running this place. He relays that he didn't do anything to his car, but that someone above him. This also leads Riley to seeing that the game for that night puts Slack (Asia Argento) in danger. She is saved and Chihuahua is killed. They're arrested.

Their way out involves helping Kaufman, trying to stop Cholo and getting Dead Reckoning back. Riley sees his way out and it appears that helping the big boss is the way to do that.

Now that's where I'm going to leave my recap of this movie. Where I want to start is that George A. Romero is probably my favorite director of all time. Dawn of the Dead is my favorite movie and I mean Day of the Dead is right there in my top 5 as well. What is really impactful from his series is how well he constructs the stories where you can enjoy what he is doing, while also reading subtext underneath it. I think this one is probably the most in your face with it of the 4, but I still think this is a worthy film with the other 3.

We really are looking at a capitalist society and what is going on in the United States at the time of writing this really fits with the commentary here. Kaufman along with his group is the ruling class. They have all of the money and power while we have the slums below. The character of Mulligan (Bruce McFee) is interesting because he is trying to rally the people since they outnumber the rich. The people are placated due to vices, much like we see today. Too many people are comfortable and don't want to get their hands dirty. It then becomes interesting here though is the zombies that attack the city.

From the beginning, Romero has introduced that zombies are primitive, but can learn. It is brought up in Dawn and Day. The next logical step we have here. Big Daddy pushes them forward. It is interesting with them attacking Fiddler's Green, the revolution that Mulligan wants happens when the zombies attack. On top of that, anyone who dies joins them as well. It isn't necessarily his vision, but it works.

The last little bit here I wanted to delve into would be Cholo. He's mad because he was spurned, which makes sense. What confuses me though is that his mindset is stuck in the old world. He wants Kaufman to pay him a monetary ransom. That won't help him outside of Fiddler's Green. I think this is really showing that he is blinded by rage and not thinking that it only has value if someone believes it does. Destroying Fiddler's Green makes it worthless.

Moving away from the story and the commentary, I'll go next to the acting. I'll be honest, I don't really care for Baker as our lead here. He is stoic which is fine. There's just something about him and I think it is that there's some really good performances around him that he gets lost. Leguizamo is one of them. I think he does a solid job as Cholo. You can feel his rage for sure. Hopper is good as the true villain of this movie. I liked Argento's performance. I think Joy is also solid. Clark as Big Daddy is good, but I don't necessarily think he's great either. The rest of the cast does really round this out for what was needed with cameos by Fondacaro, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Greg Nicotero and even Tom Savini as zombies.

Really the last thing that I wanted to delve into is what really can be hit or miss for me are the effects. I think that the look of the zombies is really good. The ending sequence of mayhem for the climax I think works really well with what is done practical. I'm not surprised to see KNB's name in the credits. Nicotero is from the school of Savini and of course being the N in KNB. What I really have an issue with is the CGI. They relay on it a lot and most of it didn't hold up for me. It is a shame, but I get why it is used. Romero was given a big budget and worked with Universal. I'm just not the biggest fan.

In conclusion here, this is the weakest of the best 4 in the Dead series from Romero. I still think that this one has a good social commentary and it creates a world that sucks me in. I think that the acting is pretty solid across the board. The practical effects are on point, the cinematography is well done and the soundtrack fits for what was needed. If they didn't go with as much CGI as they did, I think this would have worked better for me. For me, this is a good movie. I don't think that it will ever go higher than that, but I still enjoy this for what it is. I'd still recommend it to fans of this series or if you enjoy zombie movies as it still one of the better ones in my opinion.

The zombie genre is filled to the brim with countless entries, each attempting to brand their style with a new outlook and imaginative theme to fight for a spot in out positive memory. Land Of The Dead, a 2004 effort, shakes out its sleeves and brings us an enjoyable concept, peppy, likable characters, a world all its own and charming zombies who end up being characters of their own, instead of endless hordes. Then again, it's directed by genre pioneer George A. Romero, so I expect nothing less. The setting is Chicago, many years after an outbreak, when the dust has began to settle. The rich and affluent live in swanky protected high rise Fiddler's Green, presided over by demented CEO Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). The poor live as plebians in a surrounding slum, and the zombies gather outside the city, kept at bay by a barricade. Regular supply runs into the hostile zone are spearheaded by level minded Riley (Simon Baker), and volatile hothead Cholo (John Leguizamo). Fairly soon the zombies, who it seems still have a modicum of brains left in their head (or just feral instinct) form a posse, and use their strength by numbers to attack the human stronghold. The charming opening sequence shows them haplessly trying to recreate the routines and activities they had as humans, musical instruments, filling gas tanks etc., bogged down by their animalistic affliction. It's an inspired scene, only made more fascinating when a combat vehicle trundles through and shoots a bunch of them. The others scream in fury at the humans in a way that seems almost vaguely... human. So they muster the undead Rohirrim and slowly but surely make their way to the 'civilized' city to raise all hell. Riley and his socially awkward sharpshooter pal Charlie (Robert Joy) team up with tough street girl Slack (Asia Argento) and attempt to high tail it out of town, up to remote Canada. Cholo has plans of his own, trying to manipulate and strong arm Kaufman into giving him a suite at The Green. When the zombies show up, all plans go out the window, forcing all parties into action to defend the city from the relentless undead. There's all kinds of re purposed tanks and army vehicles involved in the fun, and any kind of weapon you can imagine to decimate them. The film looks slick as hell, with clearly a ton of effort put into both creature and costume design. Baker makes a stalwart hero, Argento is sizzling as always and fires up the screen with her inky persona, and Hopper hams it up to kingdom come, riffing on the abrasive Donald Trump archetype. It's Leguizamo, however who steals the show, as usual. He gives Cholo a streetsmart, diamond hard edge and coal black, pissy sense of humour, walking a playful line between hero and outright asshole. Romero directs with a colorful sense of social satire, and yet never lets it get in the way. The zombies steal the show, and aren't just fleshy scenery fpr people to blast apart, but amusing caricatures all their own. One of my favourites in the undead genre.