LAND OF THE DEAD

Land Of The Dead is a 2005 zombie/horror flick directed by legendary zombie/horror film director George A. Romero who's known for his zombie/horror flicks, most notably his late-sixties black & white groundbreaking zombie/horror classic Night Of The Living Dead. Admittedly, Romero's zombie flicks have been rather hit or miss, but Land Of The Dead is actually pretty good, especially given that I'm NOT the biggest zombie fan. At least in this one the zombies learn, at least somewhat so, how to think and especially how to fight back instead of just being mindless brain-eating undead machines. Anyway, this film stars Simon Baker (of TV's The Mentalist fame) who created an armored tank/zombie-killing machine called Dead Reckoning that he created for a corrupt despot--played with usual evilness by the late Dennis Hopper (of Easy Rider and Speed fame)--who runs a city that's "protected" from the zombie horde where--of course!--only the well-to-do can afford to live in while the less fortunate have to stay outside in makeshift camps and such and basically fend for themselves. Hopper's despotic character enlists Baker's character's help in tracking down a former associate of his--played by John Leguizamo (of Ice Age and To Wong Foo fame)--who also did some assassinating jobs for Hopper's character with the hope that he'd allow him to live in the city. However, when Dennis's character screws him on that deal, he hijacks the Dead Reckoning and vows revenge on the corrupt despot. Aided by his constant zombie-fighting companion who is a little slow (played by actor Robert Joy) and a raven-haired hottie--played by the "uber" hot Asia Argento (of XXX and Dario Argento fame)--whom he rescues from being zombie-bait in a cage match between two zombies thrown by a "little person" who gets shot in the head by his sharpshooting "slow" companion along with a few soldiers provided by Hopper's character, Simon's character goes off in search of the Dead Reckoning and his former cohort. Meanwhile, the zombies, led by an undead gas station attendant, start becoming more intelligent and start descending on the city. Simon's character and his group catches up with the Dead Reckoning and takes it back from John's character. They return to the city only to find it overrun with--that's right!--zombies. They in turn use the Dead Reckoning to help fight against the zombie invasion. Like I said, Land Of The Dead is actually one of the better zombie flicks I've seen. Frankly, I think a lot of the zombie flicks and/or shows I've seen is just more or less a rehash of Romero's first zombie flick Night Of The Living Dead (The Walking Dead, anyone?). And, while Land Of The Dead is along the same theme of those other zombie flicks and/or shows, it's a better quality zombie flick since a lot of other zombie flicks I've seen, including some of Romero's other zombie flicks, have a kind of B-movie "quality" to them. Plus it doesn't hurt that it co-stars "uber" hottie Asia Argento (am I right, fellas!)!