In The Crazies No One is Safe

Directed by: Breck Eisner
Written  by: Scott Kosar and Ray Wright

Actors: Timothy Olyphant: David Dutton
Radha Mitchell: Judy Dutton
Joe Anderson: Russell Clank
Danielle Panabaker: Becca Darling
Christie Lynn Smith: Deardra Farnum
Brett Rickaby: Bill Farnum
Preston Bailey: Nicholas

Run time: 101 minutes

Genre: Mystery, Thriller.

There are a lot of movies that come out every year and let’s face it we’ve all been disappointed from time to time with some of them. One the other side of things we have the movies that exceed our expectations and The Crazies definitely did that for me.

Especially seeing as I was a huge fan of the original movie by George Romero, so when I heard they were remaking The Crazies, I groaned, to say the least. I just wished Hollywood stop redoing all of these classic films that I enjoyed so much. More often than not they screw up the new version. I was still hoping that they would replicate what Zach Snyder did for the re-imagining of Dawn Of The Dead and create something new based on Romero’s original idea and take the film to the nth level of greatness.

I ended up enjoying the new Dawn Of the Dead immensely, even a bit more than Romero’s original. Which I know is heresy to say but I’m being honest here. Which is quite a feat in and of itself.

The Crazies is another such re-imagining and the same sort of story idea is there, except this version is better paced, better acted and has awesome special effects. This movie was just kicking all kinds of ass.

**********************Spoilers****************Spoilers*********************************Spoilers*****************

The story starts up by establishing very quickly the type of quiet little town that we’ve all seen before. The kind of place where you know the name and history of every single person that lives there. Where the opening day of baseball season is a pretty big deal…….It’s just how it is. It’s exactly at this first baseball game that we begin to see the tone of the movie begin to change. The town drunk wanders onto the baseball field carrying a double barrelled shotgun. He looks quite messed up. The sheriff automatically assumes he’s on a  bender. The town’s deputy begins to get all the players off of the field while the sheriff deals with the situation. The sheriff confronts the man not with his weapon drawn but just trying to talk the man into giving up his weapon, at no point does it seem to the sheriff that he may have to take more drastic action. At least at first. Only does the sheriff pull his weapon once the drunk points his weapon at him and reluctantly so from his reaction. He has no choice but to put a bullet into the drunk in front of most of the townsfolk. Much to their dismay and the sheriff’s I might add. It’s quite clear the sheriff didn’t want to resort to violence to resolve this conflict.

The mood of the town and it’s people have become sombre. Everyone seems to be in shock. The tension level begins to rise and one of the witnesses begins to exhibit strange behaviour. Possibly some sort of disorder associated with the shock from the shooting. At least that’s what it seems like. After the town doctor checks him out and tells his wife to keep a close eye on him, he burns down his house with his wife and son inside. The town’s people are horrified. More and more strange events have begun to permeate their lives.

Some hunters then find a corpse while they are hunting with what appears to be a parachute attached to him. It’s obvious from how he’s dressed that he’s military. The only question that is left unanswered is where is his plane? Before long the sheriff discovers where it has crashed. It’s crashed in a stream that they get their drinking water from. The payload of the plane is unknown but the sheriff assumes the worst. He shuts down the town’s water supply against the orders of the town’s mayor.

From here on in the story kicks into high gear. No Internet, no cellular signal, no telephone service and no way to get help. The town has been isolated. Completely cut off from the rest of the world. That’s when the shit really hits the fan.

It literally feels like no one is safe. Considering how bland and safe movies are nowadays this is a welcomed change for me.

If you want a movie that delivers on all levels possible and doesn’t contradict itself with the rules it establishes early on, then this movie will rock your socks off.

This is a movie that can stand on it’s own merits despite it being a re-imagining.

In fact I think I’ll go watch it again.

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