The Advance

Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Entertainment

A pitchfork never looked so scary. But thanks to "The Crazies," it's now been added to my 'weapons to avoid' list. This movie not only has insane gore but a decent plot, too. Granted, I tried not to jump, but after 20 minutes, even I couldn't sit still.
It plays out something like a "Resident Evil" meets "Quarantine" flick that combines the small town paranoia with killer zombies. Now, I think it is safe to say that this movie won't top any box office records, but it is a refreshing thriller. Too many films, like "Saw" or "The House of Wax" go for the gore and nothing more. But director Breck Eisner found a way to recreate the 1973 George A. Romero film with a little taste.
Timothy Olyphant, who you might remember from "Hitman," plays a small town sheriff who, from the beginning, was pegged to be the hero. His pregnant wife, Radha Mitchell, plays the helpless damsel in distress fairly well. I will give her credit for finally shooting the bad guy towards the end. It only took an hour, but whose keeping track?
The story follows the sheriff as he manages to escape death about 25 times. Again, I wasn't keeping track. Not only does he get his head beat in more than a few times, but he's almost sawed to death twice, stabbed in the hand, crushed, ran over, beheaded, shot, snapped in two, set on fire and escapes a rolling semi. Impressive but expected. And you can guess it: it was all in the name of love. Yikes. Of course the two are the only ones to survive in the small town of Ogden, but the ending suggests that they were just on course to be in the same situation.
Not only will you see people that remind you of your own neighbors in this movie, but you'll witness the cinema brutality of the government. Oh wait, "I Am Legend," "Resident Evil," "Quarantine," "Infection (2000)," "The Zombie Chronicles," "Serenity," and so on, all have the same plot. Hmmm…
Needless to say, the last few years have coughed up enough "infection" based movies to last us a lifetime. It wouldn't be so bad for "The Crazies" if it hadn't ended the exact same way as they always do. While this is still a good movie, scary at that, it's lacking on the originality side. Though I'll admit, I haven't seen a team of zombie hunters use the inhabitants of their city for target practice before, and I hope I never do.
I suggest you see an earlier showing to save a few bucks. If anything else, in a few months it'll be on DVD or available on Netflix

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