Review: The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies

IMDB rate: 6,6

Genre: Virus

I remember when I first saw this movie in the cinema, it was advertised as if it was a zombie movies, but when the movie has ended you came to the conclusion that this movie is definitely not a zombie movie. Some people might say that the people are in fact zombies and while they are indeed infected because of contaminated water, they do not really have the 'typical' zombie behavior. The people that are infected in the movie are getting extremely violent and aggressive and do not react normally anymore, this is of course a bit of zombie behavior, but they do not bite people. They rather shoot other people. Also I believe that the people can't get infected because of each other.

As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton tries to make sense of the situation while he, his pregnant wife, and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.

To start with, I have never seen the original of this movie. So I have no idea how that movie is. I personally thought this movie was a bit boring. I've seen it a few times already and I can not keep focused on it. The story is reasonable but I thought the violent people could have been a bit more violent. Or more violent people. I could not really see what the real impact was of the virus. Sure, many people died, but you saw almost nothing of it. 

The acting in the movie is quite good but I did not feel any chemistry between the four main characters. The four main characters are actually quite familiar people; Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson and Danielle Panabaker. Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell are definitely good actors but they don't really make a good couple. Timothy's character David came back for Radha Mitchell's character Judy but there was not much love. Well, of course they loved each other, but you did not feel it when you watched it (not literally of course). I liked Joe Anderson, his acting is quite good and he's very badass but a bit under-appreciated my opinion. I would have liked seeing him in a bigger role. I absolutely do not Danielle Panabaker. Not ever, in any movie. I think she's a terrible actress with a weird face. The weird face does not influence her acting abilities of course so I won't continue complaining about that. I actually somewhat liked the remake of Friday the 13th, but again, Danielle Panabaker... grrrrr. I'm sorry but I think she's terrible.

The movie itself has quite a few jump scares, very tensed moments and excellent use of soundtrack. At one point where the woman is going to the harvester (?) I was hoping there was someone behind the wheel and suddenly started to drive the thing. Wouldn't be to surprised since she was standing there in front of the rotating blades, it was kinda stupid. Anyway, if it would have happened it would look a lot like one of the missions in GTA: San Andreas, which is kinda cool.

I did not find The Crazies a very special movie, it's definitely not bad but I found it hard to keep focused on it. The acting is quite good and it's has a few very good scenes. I hope I can watch the original someday so I can compare the two. I'm very sure that the original is a lot better than this, but time will tell!

My personal rate: 6/10