The Dead Don't Die (D+ or 1.5/4 stars)
'The Dead Don't Die is' an all-star, laidback zombie 'comedy' with an environmental message from quirky indie director, Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Only Lovers Left Alive, Paterson). In the small, sleepy town of Centerville, local cops Cliff Robertson & Ronnie Peterson (Bill Murray, Adam Driver) don't have much to do beyond checking into allegations from 'Make America White Again'-cap wearing Farmer Miller (Steve Buscemi), or the goings-on of homeless Hermit Bob (Tom Waits), who stole some of his chickens. But things start getting bizarre when communications start glitching, pets are running away & then the sun doesn't set at the correct time? Why, you ask? Apparently: the result of polar fracking {eye roll}. This also has the unexpected side effect of the dead being re-animated back to life, something local man Hank Thompson (Danny Glover) is the 1st to discover in the local diner upon finding the gory remains of 2 women who work there.
Ronnie is quick to figure out that it is the work of zombies and that he, Cliff & their 3rd cop partner, Mindy Morrison (Chloe Sevigny), must make the locals aware, such as convenience store owner Bobby Wiggins (Caleb Landry Jones, of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), as well as tourist Zoe (Selena Gomez) & her 2 male friends staying at the local motel run by Danny (Larry Fessenden). Realizing the only way to kill the zombies is by blowing off their heads with guns or by decapitating them with large knives - something new-to-town Scottish mortician Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) is curiously proficient at with her samurai sword - our cop protagonists try to fend-off the growing # of un-dead in their little town. Is there more to this strange tale than meets the eye?
The answer is: No, not really. There's really nothing much to this zombie flick, at all. When I think of original zombie movies, I think of I Am Legend, Shaun of the Dead, even Pride & Prejudice & Zombies; those put a new spin on the genre. But I suspect that this one will not elicit laughs, thrills or screams from anyone. There are a few stolen moments here & there of deadpan humor or a cool visual to keep you going, but that's about it. Some things just flat-out don't work. i.e., a TV anchor named Posie Juarez played by Rosie Perez {hysterical! Not.}. Also, that the Danny Glover character's only friend is Steve Buscemi's racist farmer felt unnecessary & obvious. As for Murray & Driver, well, they react to everything as if it were a non-event. Outbreak of a zombie apocalypse? Their pulse rate barely registers. No fear, anger, disgust or ... anything. There is deadpan & droll, and then there's just ... dead. That's them. At least Chloe Sevigny screams, a bit.
Considering the main characters' Meh reactions to the mayhem at play, you'd think that maybe Jim Jarmusch has something up his sleeve to grab us out of the lulling haze that this movie offers. But, no. Driver's character goes all meta at one point; explaining to Murray that a song on the radio sounds familiar because it's the film's title song {eye roll}. Later, when asked why he keeps saying that 'things are going to turn out badly', Murray responds that "it's because he read the script" of this movie. I mean, come on! Talk about lazy screenwriting. Even the quirky element of having Tilda Swinton playing a Scottish, samurai sword-wielding mortician felt like a one-note; though, she was my favorite character in this drag of a movie.
Yeah, I didn't actively hate this film or anything. But for a while, I gave Jarmisch benefit of the doubt that the droll/deadpan approach was going to pay off in some imaginative way. I suppose sardonic Jarmusch wanted to say some wry commentary on today's obsessions and how they are making us 'undead' (in a cameo, Carol Kane chants "Chardonnayyy". 2 other zombies chant "coffeee". Other zombies utter "Wi-Fiiii", "Siriiii", & "Xanaxxx". But again, it's presented in a self-satisfied way & goes nowhere. I don't blame the cast. But that they were instructed to act so defiantly 'dead' prevented me from caring or piercing through the deadpan to find humor or intent. The film ends up being as dull, lugubrious & lumbering as its zombie subjects.
Ronnie is quick to figure out that it is the work of zombies and that he, Cliff & their 3rd cop partner, Mindy Morrison (Chloe Sevigny), must make the locals aware, such as convenience store owner Bobby Wiggins (Caleb Landry Jones, of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), as well as tourist Zoe (Selena Gomez) & her 2 male friends staying at the local motel run by Danny (Larry Fessenden). Realizing the only way to kill the zombies is by blowing off their heads with guns or by decapitating them with large knives - something new-to-town Scottish mortician Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) is curiously proficient at with her samurai sword - our cop protagonists try to fend-off the growing # of un-dead in their little town. Is there more to this strange tale than meets the eye?
The answer is: No, not really. There's really nothing much to this zombie flick, at all. When I think of original zombie movies, I think of I Am Legend, Shaun of the Dead, even Pride & Prejudice & Zombies; those put a new spin on the genre. But I suspect that this one will not elicit laughs, thrills or screams from anyone. There are a few stolen moments here & there of deadpan humor or a cool visual to keep you going, but that's about it. Some things just flat-out don't work. i.e., a TV anchor named Posie Juarez played by Rosie Perez {hysterical! Not.}. Also, that the Danny Glover character's only friend is Steve Buscemi's racist farmer felt unnecessary & obvious. As for Murray & Driver, well, they react to everything as if it were a non-event. Outbreak of a zombie apocalypse? Their pulse rate barely registers. No fear, anger, disgust or ... anything. There is deadpan & droll, and then there's just ... dead. That's them. At least Chloe Sevigny screams, a bit.
Considering the main characters' Meh reactions to the mayhem at play, you'd think that maybe Jim Jarmusch has something up his sleeve to grab us out of the lulling haze that this movie offers. But, no. Driver's character goes all meta at one point; explaining to Murray that a song on the radio sounds familiar because it's the film's title song {eye roll}. Later, when asked why he keeps saying that 'things are going to turn out badly', Murray responds that "it's because he read the script" of this movie. I mean, come on! Talk about lazy screenwriting. Even the quirky element of having Tilda Swinton playing a Scottish, samurai sword-wielding mortician felt like a one-note; though, she was my favorite character in this drag of a movie.
Yeah, I didn't actively hate this film or anything. But for a while, I gave Jarmisch benefit of the doubt that the droll/deadpan approach was going to pay off in some imaginative way. I suppose sardonic Jarmusch wanted to say some wry commentary on today's obsessions and how they are making us 'undead' (in a cameo, Carol Kane chants "Chardonnayyy". 2 other zombies chant "coffeee". Other zombies utter "Wi-Fiiii", "Siriiii", & "Xanaxxx". But again, it's presented in a self-satisfied way & goes nowhere. I don't blame the cast. But that they were instructed to act so defiantly 'dead' prevented me from caring or piercing through the deadpan to find humor or intent. The film ends up being as dull, lugubrious & lumbering as its zombie subjects.