THE DEAD DON'T DIE by URIZEN

   “What did I just watch?” Those were the first words out of my mouth after seeing The Dead Don’t Die. Knowing nothing about the director and only seeing the great cast and what seemed to be a pretty funny trailer, I was going into this movie pretty blind, but also excited. A seemingly zombie comedy movie with Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Selena Gomez, Tom Waits and more? This seemed perfect. While it wasn’t perfect, it was still pretty interesting…and strange.

   As I said, The Dead Don’t Die stars Bill Murray and Adam Driver as Cliff Robertson and Ronnie Peterson, two police officers in the small town of Centerville. Strange things start occurring one day such as electronics not working, the sun staying up for various times, clocks stop and animals start acting strangely. This is apparently caused by the polar fracking that has been happening.  One of the other side effects of this ends up being zombies. Cliff and Ronnie try their best to survive and protect their townspeople from the undead.

   On paper, this seems like a fun movie and it is a decent amount of the time. I mean when you have Tilda Swinton as Scottish or Irish (their words), Samurai undertaker who cuts down zombies with a katana, it is going to be a good time.  And that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her character. Unfortunately for the most part though, this movie falls a bit flat. I saw how on average it looks like it is sitting at around fifty percent and I have to agree. 

   The Dead Don’t Die has a lot of talent, and while some of them get to shine, some go nowhere.  There are characters and plot points that get either dropped or our just left completely unresolved. I often wondered why certain characters were even there. Meanwhile though, we have a small role like Iggy Pop as a coffee obsessed zombie that ended up being pretty funny.

   A lot of the movie focuses on this bit of deadpan humor which I love. The only side effect of this being you have actors not being able to show what they can do, and characters acting a bit out of the norm. This does work at times,  particularly with Adam Driver's character and provides really funny moments. Unfortunately those moments don't happen enough.

   This movie also takes quite a long time to get into the zombie aspect actually. It kept building up to it, alluding to things not being right before moving to a different set of characters.  When we finally get zombies, we only get two of them for a scene or two before going back into some more set up.  I do appreciate a few things with these zombies though. While a bit in your face, the love of the classic zombie genre is there and the practical effects for the zombies and gore looks pretty good. I also enjoyed that the zombies didn't bleed, it made a bit of sense. Less so when a newly turned zombie got cut and dust poured out, but that's beside the point. I did chuckle a bit too at the zombies being drawn to things they obsessed over while alive.  So you get zombies wanting wifi, free cable, toys, candy, tools. It could be pretty amusing.

   On the opposite side of all of this though,  we get where this movie really bothers me. I am okay with their being a bit of a message and social commentary in a movie.  The problem gets to be when a film hammers it in so much that it becomes less of a little clever commentary and more of a PSA. It is very obvious through some monologues from Tom Waits character and from other scenes that this movie is pushing anti-capitalism. This would be fine honestly if done right. The problem is, it isn't clever with it. It is so in your face that you grow sick of it. It also gets that way with the polar fracking. It could have been fine as a commentary. Mention it once or twice,  even keep the government trying to convince people it causes no harm and the scientists-know-nothing bit, it would've been fine. Unfortunately, we hear about it constantly.  Doesn't matter who the characters are, how old they are, whether it is conversation,  magazine headline,  television news broadcast or radio broadcast, everyone has something to say on it.  There might be more time spent talking about fracking than zombie screen time. It gets a bit obnoxious and I’m pretty sure most of my theater was fed up with it.

   Where this movie does shine though is in some of the meta humor and fourth wall breaking. When the jokes hit, they are legitimately really funny. Most characters get to have their moments, producing some funny lines in this almost too deadpan of a movie at times. The film also does a good job at having the feel at times of a George A. Romero Zombie film. Unfortunately then you get moments talking about how great the classics are and trashing hipsters.

   Despite having an amazing cast, some really funny comedy at times , and some decent commentary when not being overbearing, it all does not equal out to a great movie that I would recommend paying for. If it is on cable or you can rent it cheaply, sure give it a shot and you will get some laughs. I wouldn’t bother paying full price to see it though. The dead may not die but my brain sure felt like it did by the time the credits rolled.