Dawn of the Dead (2004), An American Werewolf in London, Full Metal Jacket
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
[ 3 stars out of 4 ]
I find this zombie film interesting because it’s more disgusting than scary. Although it has its gasp-out-loud moments, they are balanced with dark humor that can be found in the characters’ idiosyncrasies. I haven’t seen the original “Dawn of the Dead” (at the time I was writing this review) so I can’t compare this to that one. However, I like the certain campiness that this picture has because once it gets amusing, the real horror pops out of nowhere. There are two most memorable scenes for me: the beginning when Sarah Polley wakes up as a zombie enters her home and the ending when everyone makes their escape despite an ocean of the undead. I also enjoyed the commentaries about individualism, abortion, and capital punishment. All of those issues were deftly sewn into the film. My main problem with it is the middle: the filmmakers spent too much time observing the characters’ idle days instead of delivering consistent shocks that the audience crave. Still, this is not a bad remake; it actually made me want to watch the original.
American Werewolf in London, An
[ 3 stars out of 4 ]
“A naked American man stole my balloons!” is one of the many memorable quotes from this campy, nicely paced film. Although this is more of an exercise in black comedy than horror, it has solid thrills, especially toward the beginning of the picture. Several most memorable scenes include: the werewolf’s first attack, the dream sequences, the various stage’s of Jack’s decomposition, the transformation, and the porno theatre. But the person that gave this movie a soft touch that it desperately needed was Jenny Agutter as the nurse who takes in David (played by David Naughton). She shines in her scenes and I wanted to know more about her as the story unfolded itself. My main problem with this movie is that it didn’t have enough horror to satisfy those who are expecting to be scared. If more scenes like the first attack were present, I think this picture would be on an entirely different level. Still, this is one of the best werewolf movies I’ve seen; the transformation scene alone looks very convincing, if not terrifying. I wish more Hollywood movies would make campy, horror movies like this because it’s really a joy to watch even if it’s far from perfect.
Full Metal Jacket
[ 4 stars out of 4 ]
I expected this movie to be great because Stanley Kubrick never fails to impress me, but I’ve read a lot of critiques that claim that this is one of Kubrick’s weaker pictures so I was anticipating for the film to slip eventually. Thankfully, it never did. Sure, the dark and sharp humor can be found in the first half of the film only, and the other half features the battlefield. At first, I was kind of thrown off as well, but a character makes an insightful comment about the duality of man. And that’s when it all clicked: this film is about two extremes… and how those extremes come together. I don’t want to list all the scenes I thought embodies or supports that idea, but the one aspect that stood out for me the most was the use of humour in situations that are nothing short of serious. Other tools that I found interesting was the use of night and day. In the daytime, even though the characters are in dire situations, we are able to laugh with or at the characters for the things that they say or do. But when night comes, we are no longer able to laugh because the dark side of humanity is highlighted. That’s when the irony comes because although night shows darkness, the audiences can better see what the characters are thinking and feeling, as if it’s as bright as day. Lastly, the use of indoors and outdoors is fascinating as well. Indoors usually go hand-in-hand with safety, and outdoors usually mean danger. But that is switched in this film. The idea of indoors-outdoors culminates at the end of the picture during the sniper scenes. This film requires a close viewing because the little details make the experience that much richer. Once again, Kubrick delivers a timeless film that is worth discussing and analyzing.
