I see what Romero is getting at with this genre-blending experiment. He shoots the movie like an old B-western and utilized all the standard clichés. Heroes never miss, villains can't shoot to save their lives; people stand around and wait to get shot; there's the Good (Crockett), the Bad (Muldoon), and the Ugly (O'Flynn), who are all really just chain-smoking opportunists; posses and horses and cowboys with shifting alliances. The zombies are reduced to the "other" a la Native Americans in cheesy, pre-revisionist era westerns who just sort of wander about as an inconvenience; you get the impression that the characters think of interesting ways to kill them in order to survive the boredom and monotony of a territory overrun by unwanted "savages". So many of the criticisms about this film being cheesy are, I believe, deliberate attempts at Romero mirroring (but certainly not transcending) the old school western, and I admire him for constantly subverting our expectations.
Unfortunately, where Survival fails is providing a reason to exist in the first place. I don't think that Romero, as skilled a filmmaker as he is, has given us any clear progression in his themes. Everything here seems recycled from his previous films - the irony that the villain is actually correct, the shootout between humans while zombies just wander about picking up the leftovers, human nature's tendency for tribalism and dehumanizing anyone who isn't a part of their team, et al, are all points he's already made.
What he has done with Survival is recycle these ideas in a very entertaining way. But for the first time while watching one of his zombie films, I'm finally getting the impression that Romero's zombie universe is running out of steam. Perhaps it is time for him to hang up his undead hat and make a different film altogether. I'm reminded of the line in Scott's "American Gangster": "Quitting while you're ahead is not the same thing as quitting." Still... a very decent film. 7/10 (the lowest rating I've ever given a Romero zombie film)
Unfortunately, where Survival fails is providing a reason to exist in the first place. I don't think that Romero, as skilled a filmmaker as he is, has given us any clear progression in his themes. Everything here seems recycled from his previous films - the irony that the villain is actually correct, the shootout between humans while zombies just wander about picking up the leftovers, human nature's tendency for tribalism and dehumanizing anyone who isn't a part of their team, et al, are all points he's already made.
What he has done with Survival is recycle these ideas in a very entertaining way. But for the first time while watching one of his zombie films, I'm finally getting the impression that Romero's zombie universe is running out of steam. Perhaps it is time for him to hang up his undead hat and make a different film altogether. I'm reminded of the line in Scott's "American Gangster": "Quitting while you're ahead is not the same thing as quitting." Still... a very decent film. 7/10 (the lowest rating I've ever given a Romero zombie film)