Directed by Jim Jarmusch
* * ½
I have no doubt that The
Dead Don’t Die will be an enjoyable movie for most, if not all, viewers.
What will vary, however, is the level of enjoyment each audience member will
get from it. It’s just made its way to theaters across the country, but reviews
have popped up here and there from scattered festival screenings. The reviews up
to this point have suggested something ultimately unfulfilling but fun while it
lasts. As for me? At its worst, it is a marginally irksome mess of overbearing
meta-humor and tonal imbalance. At its best, on the other hand; thanks to the
usual cool Jarmusch dryness and an exceptional cast, it was indeed a fun ride.
Something strange is going on
in small-town midwestern Americana, known here as Centerville. The sun should
have been down long ago, but is still up; freshly-charged phones are dropping
dead; animals collectively fleeing from their homes; and other such weirdness.
It is soon reported that polar fracking has caused a catastrophic effect on the
earth, throwing the planet off of its orbital axis. Well, soon enough, the weirdest
of anomalies occurs: this strange phenomenon is raising the dead from the graves
to feed on the flesh of the living! Now, in the confines of Centerville, it’s free-for-all
for survival between the living dead and the many wacky locals, all set to the soundtrack
of Sturgill Simpson’s “The Dead Don’t Die”.
Wait, did I say soon enough?
Please excuse me, as it actually takes quite a bit of time for things to
actually begin happening. To my great surprise, Jim Jarmusch proves to be quite
formidable in the art of slow-burn horror. In spite of a chuckle here and
there, I found myself legitimately scared of what was boiling around
Centerville…while I mean this as a compliment, I also mean this equal part as criticism.
The biggest problem in the film is its tonal imbalance. It clearly wants to be
horror comedy. Fine by me, but there are tons of really bleak undertones with
the fracking & planetary axis subjects that are brought up. Jarmusch seems
to be channeling environmental concerns – completely warranted in the greater
scheme of things, but they take a lot of the fun out of his new film.
Many reviews have pointed out
and criticized the film’s allegedly frequent self-referential jokes. These were
not nearly as prevalent as they’re built up to be – most of these are simply
winks to the audience that are more subtle than they’re made out to be.
However, blatant meta-humor is present, and is distractingly out of place when
it happens. It feels more like Jarmusch exercising fan-service because he
couldn’t think of anything better.
But The Dead Don’t Die
is at least a fun watch while it’s happening, and said fun is all on account of
the wonderful cast. The film treats its characters in a Robert Altman-esque fashion
(though not as sprawling), so we only get portions of the characters at a time.
Unfortunately, for as many idiosyncratic characters present here, there’s not
grand-scale coming-together showdown against the hordes of the undead. It’s a
missed opportunity. That said, though, each character and performance always manage
to bring something to look forward to, despite Steve Buscemi’s character
existing exclusively as an arbitrary jab at Trump supporters.
That said, I don’t think
anybody would deny that the protagonists are Bill Murray, Adam Driver, and
Chloe Sevigny, who make up the town’s entire police department. They make a
wonderful team, even if Murray seems suspiciously bored from time to time. Tom
Waits is also a pleasure to see as a reclusive mountain man. Who undoubtedly
steals the show, though, is Tilda Swinton as the eccentric undertaker, a Scottish
woman and expert in Japanese sword-fighting skills. If there is at least one
reason to see The Dead Don’t Die, look no further than Swinton.
There’s no doubt in my mind that zombie movie fanatics are going to
flock to The Dead Don’t Die, for the gore and monsters at the
very least. How are they? Well, they’re fine, I suppose. Nothing particularly
special. The makeup on the zombies feels like it’s trying too hard to make
memorable-looking zombies; ironically, I doubt people are going to remember the
look of the zombies, even though many of their scenes are very funny, the diner
scene being particularly memorable in that regard. The gore isn’t too much to
write home about either, but it gets the job done. There’s a half-hearted
attempt at social commentary with zombies repeating phrases like “…wi-fi…” and “…Bluetooth…”.
It all comes off as very cheap.
I’m curious as to what
compelled Jarmusch to make The Dead Don’t Die. Though there’s still a
market for zombie entertainment, evident in the ever-running series The Walking Dead, but zombie mania wasn’t nearly as big as it was 10 years ago. Perhaps
the passing of George A. Romero in 2017 inspired Jarmusch, but I don’t sense
enough heartful tribute. No matter; I suppose the best route to take is to
accept it for what it is. There were problems throughout the film to warrant a
glowingly positive review, but I can’t help but sit here fondly as a recall and
write this review. It’s not an exceptionally good film by any means, but
it’s still worth it for the dry fun factor.
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