Land of the Dead

SO Night showed the beginning of the epidemic, Dawn showed the break down, Day showed the aftermath, now we get to Land, which shows us how people have adjusted, beign used to the zombies, or stenches as they're called in the film.This wasn't Romero's first studio film but it was his first studio zombie film, and while it has it's flaws, it's still an entertaining flick, and Romero has said Universal didn't get too involved in creative control. This is Universal we're talking about thought, look what they did to mallrats, they made Smith cut things from his screenplay, look at Dazed & Confused, Linklater's film could've been a huge hit at the box office, but it had little marketing. I think Land was handles very well though, it's audience(us online and horror magazine fans) knew of the film, and went to see it regardless.

It opens with an old school Universal logo, and we hear a recap of the zombie attack. Our hero in the film is Riley(Simon Baker), who works for Kaufman(Dennis Hopper) a man with great wealth who has the Pennsylvania town closed off, guarded by the military. Riley and others go out at night to find goods, medicine & survivors. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Cholo(John Leguizamo) who instead of tryign to help people is only out for himself, trying to get into Fiddler's Green, Kaufman's estate for the rich. When Cholo is denied he goes rogue and takes Dead Reckoning(a suped up vehicle designed by Riley). Riley on the other hand in an attempt to save Slack(Asia Argento), from a zombie attack, gets arrested. So he, Slack & Riley's longtime friend Charlie(Robert Joy) are sitting in jail when Kaufman asks them to go & get Cholo. They along with three of Kaufman's people, Manolete (Sasha Roiz), Motown (Krista Bridges) and Pillsbury (Pedro Miguel Arce). After the death of Manolete & Motown, Pillsbury officially joins Riley's group. They finally get Dead Reckoning back but by time that happens, the zombies have gotten through the gates and have rampages on the city(including Tom Savini). Cholo had been bitten and decides to live as a zombie, but before turning makes it his mission to find Kaufman. He officially zombies out and goes after him, the two are then killed by Big Daddy(Eugene Clark), a zombie who is featured almost as a hero zombie, using tools & weapons almost like a living man, via an explosion wit ha gas leak. Riley & his Dead Reckoning crew get to the city hast enough to save the townsfolk, but decide to let Big Daddy and his zombie "friends" go, as Riley says, they're just searching for a place to go.

The film features more of a post 9-11 touch with fears of unknown threats, and governments taking control over when & where people can go, almost in a near facist state. Alot say it doesn't feel like a Romero film, but i beg the differ, sure it's no where as good as his original three, but it's still a very Romeroish film. There was no Dusk of the Dead, but Land pretty much wrapped up the series, but as Yoda says, There is Another.