Re-Kill

As my title suggests, if you are a fan of the original Starship Troopers then this is a movie you will likely enjoy. It's a great spin on the (slowly getting tiresome) Zombie genre that had me laughing and, at times, on the edge of my seat, for the entire movie.

Without going into too much detail you get to follow along with a news reporter (yes, this means shaky-cam) as he is embedded with an elite group of zombie smashers. The story moves along at a brisk pace and the script, while atrocious at times, is mostly coherent and palatable. The gore is great, albeit overdone in some scenes. Where this movie shines is the FORMAT. Like with Starship Troopers there are cut-ins of commercials that are, at least to me, hilarious! If you can get past the shaky-cam being TOO shaky in some scenes then you just might find a movie that warrants a recommend to your friends.

The bottom line: If you loved Starship Troopers as I did, you will love this movie. If you like the Zombie genre, as I do, this is a different take on it with a few surprises. The effects aren't bad and the acting is slightly above average. Red Box it if you are a fan of the genre, you might just love it!

So I've been trawling through the zombie horrors as of late. By chance I happened upon Re-Kill, which I originally bypassed on release! I can still see why, but I found myself surprised by how well-executed the action/horror was. Drop the corny REC (Spanish zombie movie) dialogue, the First Person camera angles (which caused me some motion sickness) and a few pointless scenes here and there and this movie is actually a nod to '80s Paul Verhoeven sci-fi parody and Left 4 Dead multi-player gaming.

It's not there for the drama or to deliver a message, it's solely there for the experience and as zombie shoot-'em-ups go, it does a fine job when it gathers momentum. It just takes some effort to get there as a result of distracting cut-aways to scenes the movie didn't need.

What surprised me first and foremost, though, was its cast. Roger R. Cross never quite made the transition from TV face to movie lead since cult sci-fi series First Wave.

In Re-Kill he gets his own platoon and he kicks ass. His character is quite reminiscent of Tony Todd's performance in the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake.

Also surprising was the return of '90s rent-a-villain Bruce Payne, who takes the crazy hero slant for once. He's still creepy as hell, though. And Scott Adkins, a martial arts action hero as a meat-headed SWAT trooper? He's pretty intense and very welcome for this one.

Some other actors could have done a better job, or simply not had a job. At first you won't know if Re-Kill is trying to be serious or just resemble the silly 3D movies they used to play at Alton Towers but eventually it comes into its own.

I just wish they had a director's cut with the idiot cameraman voice deleted, or rewritten and performed by someone who isn't irritating.

Good effort, just not a great contender!

I thought I'd seen it all and with TV shows like Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead there would not be much more to add.

Plot: zombie virus has spread throughout the world and mankind has to do what is necessary to halt the spreading. Managing to contain it somewhat the government has created a special unit to clean out neighborhoods and secure that not a second outbreak will occur. A TV station has created a show around this unit.

I just love zombie movies, can't get enough of the theme of a small group of survivors trying to make it. Sadly, good zombie movies are hard to come by these days and ,quite frankly, it is a difficult genre to reinvent.

The Walkind Dead is excellent, showing the depravity of men combined with gore and survival. However, movies, unlike TV series, do not have the luxury nor time to explore that theme since you only got two hours or so to tell a story. Therefore zombie movies tend to revolve around getting from point A to point B or defending some sort of gated community. By now that has become dull which makes Re- Kill somewhat new, re-inventive even although not a revelation of sorts.

Re-Kill is structured like a mixture of reality TV, shows like Cops and the ever so popular found footage films (genre), which makes it a little bit new. And yes, you get plenty of gore too!

The positive sides is thus that it is relatively new, plenty of gore, good effects and decent acting from well known actors although not top notch. The zombies are not the slow, traditional ones of Romero's, but fast like 28 Days Later.

Downsides are the shaky camera, which is way too shaky even for a found footage movie; in general, too simple a plot; unexplored carachters; and not so much about the how, when, who and why.

A tip of the hat goes to the hilarious commercial breaks and the interviews of "real people" surviving the virus/attacks which echoes both Verhoeven's Robo Cop 1 & 2 and Starship Troopers. They are what really keeps the movie interesting and funny.

Bruce Payne is worth mentioning. Too me he is somewhat of a legend. But I must confess, I have always thought his acting style to be awkward and a bit stiff. But here he seems a bit more "alive" and tries to give his carachter a personality.

I haven't seen all zombie movies so I can't really say it is one of a kind within the genre itself, but to me it is kinda new and therefore I can't say "see this one if you liked...". However, if you like zombie films in general, traditional or more action driven, you will probably enjoy this one.

I give 6/10 due to its "newer" take on the genre, good acting (for the genre), the sfx.

My quick rating - 6,3/10. Nice to breath some fresh air when it comes to the tired zombie genre. Sure the apocalypse has already happened so very little background needs to go into it but from there the movie follows a team of soldiers in a reality style TV show to eradicate the zombies. Sounds fun, right? It is but not full on action at all times. Slight drawback that is easily filled with the highlight of this movie. The reality style of the camera work is great but the star of the show is the wacky future commercials done in the same vein as Starship Troopers, Running Man, etc. The whole feel of this movie as just so well done that the plot of finding out the secret behind the walled in part of the city was a backseat to it. Our stars did fine (notably Scott Adkins) in acting for this type of movie and also overacting when needed. Along with this, the gore is there for all fans to enjoy as well. One fun ride to be had with this one and just a bit more action along the way (even if stretched out for the sake of over-indulgence) would've been just fine for this critic. Still well worth the wait and look forward to watching this movie again.

I checked this out expecting the same old zombie apocalypse movie and that's exactly what I received. But with a small twist to this flick, it's shot entirely in reality show style. Now that is nothing new or anything because that's been done with zombies, such as the Spanish film REC and the zombie diaries. Now I'll say the reality show style here is not as believable as REC but it was well executed and delivered a nice twist to the movie it even includes commercials such as zombies apocalypse propaganda about re populating the earth, you know the good stuff. The plot is isn't anything to really talk about because it is what is, just a group of people killing zombies, running and hiding from zombies and being by eaten zombies.

But the acting is good, it's above average for this kinda movie and the special effects are well executed with a nice mix of practical effects and modern computer effects. Now the story gets a little boring in parts, the camera sometimes shakes a little to much and the propaganda commercials gets a little annoying at times. But overall not a bad movie just don't expect much from it and you might like it.