Working in a vein similar to – if not quite as successful as
– Zach Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead
do-over, replete with intro use of a Johnny Cash song (here, a cover of “We’ll
Meet Again”), Breck Eisner’s remake of George A. Romero’s 1973 The Crazies is a testament to the value
of understated genre craftsmanship. In the type of small town U.S.A. John
Mellencamp would adore, a local sheriff (Timothy Olyphant), his doctor wife
(Radha Mitchell) and his deputy (Joe Anderson) attempt to deal with a
fast-moving plague outbreak that’s turning their neighbors insane. As in
Romero’s version, water polluted by a mishandled government bio-agent is the
culprit, and the gas-masked military – which quickly shows up to contain (i.e.
slaughter everyone in) the area – is as dangerous as the lunatic townsfolk. Though
Eisner’s fleet-footed film never develops its characters beyond two-word
descriptions, his cast’s rock-solid performances and his get-to-business
approach are more than enough to compensate for the material’s inability to
create strong empathetic connection to its main players. Similarly, the
director may not contextualize his mayhem in contemporary hot-button fears and
anxieties as Romero did, but his no-nonsense stewardship keeps the action consistently
taut, moving swiftly from one cleverly conceived and executed set piece to
another (highlights being a stop at a car wash and a resourceful
knife-to-the-throat). From its society-in-flames scenario to its apocalyptic zombie-ish
imagery, no new soil is tilled here. Yet The
Crazies’ suspense is effective enough to eventually eclipse its
familiarity, the film a tried-and-true B-movie content to simply do its job
well.
Recent Comments