"The Walking Dead" is a good watch, but a hard one.A very hard one.
A faithful adaptation of the popular comic-book series, "The Walking Dead" drops us into a world overrun by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies who now threaten the few pockets of living humans that survived.
That may sound like a familiar setup to fans of zombie epics like "Dawn of the Dead." Don't be fooled. "The Walking Dead" is no campy horror flick full of winks, parody and self-aware excess.
Compared to this series, "Dawn of the Dead" looks like "Touched by an Angel."
In several ways, "The Walking Dead" complements other shows in AMC's growing and admirable stable of first-class television. It's a serious drama tackling a serious subject with terribly flawed characters and deeply dark undertones.
But even "Breaking Bad," in which the main character becomes an increasingly cold drug dealer, doesn't suggest the levels of moral bankruptcy that "The Walking Dead" finds in much of the human race.
Without giving the specifics away, it's safe to say the behavior of the survivors at times becomes more reprehensible than that of the zombies, who exist for the sole purpose of devouring human flesh and creating more zombies.
Like other AMC series, "The Walking Dead" also takes its time, both in setting up the premise and in playing out specific scenes.
It begins with Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who has been wounded in a wild shootout and hospitalized, awaking from semi-consciousness to find he is alone.
Though still dazed from pain, a gunshot wound and medication, he stumbles out into a world that seems to consist entirely of mutilated corpses.
We see all this through his eyes, and the disorienting terror grows geometrically as he slowly grasps that he is it. At this moment, in this place, there is no one else.
That doesn't last forever. But finding other survivors hardly turns the zombie tide, and viewers of "The Walking Dead" should prepare themselves for a long struggle.
Based on the first two episodes, those will be beautifully written, acted and filmed. Like its AMC siblings, it's a series with something to say.
Unlike "Mad Men," however, or even "Rubicon," "The Walking Dead" offers no relief. No humor, no side moments that release a little of the pressure.
Given the subject and the situation - apocalypse that could end life as we know it - that makes sense. It also makes the show relentless, a feeling not lessened by periodic bursts of extreme violence and menacing dialogue.
Fans of the comic book and first-rate psycho-horror may form a large enough audience to make this a hit. Those not in those groups may want to start by taking a deep breath.
Click here for episode 1 - > http://tvshack.cc/tv/The_Walking_Dead/season_1/episode_1/
No comments:
Post a Comment