This film is extremely similar in structure to Alex Garland's premiere writing outfit, another Danny Boyle film, The Beach. The way Garland writes aims to present exaggerated characters and situations as representations for more encompassing realities. In both this and The Beach, however, things are taken too far into the realm of the unbelievable to drive home pretentious points, and here the brilliant re-imagining of zombie significance as metaphor for our actual nature is only driven home during a small portion of the film's running time. The rest is occupied by action sequences that seem to glaze over the poignancy of the story and other sequences that have become mainstays for the highly versatile Boyle.The visual style of the film is an organized mess that reflects the script in remaining very obvious, but I give it credit for some innovative compositions that flow well within the intentionally choppy scenes. Three things that are fantastic about the film are the special effects, makeup and music. I do think, however, that Boyle (or whoever handles it for him) needs to pay closer attention to the ADR - his films frequently feature voices over mismatched mouths.
I have yet to see a Boyle film that I truly love. The Beach intrigues me for its subject matter and unique style, but ultimately fails to bring it all home. I would also like to see a Cillian Murphy film that I like. I've come to quite like his acting but all of his films seem to be rotten!
