Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Wright’s distinct visual comedic style is truly what makes his movies great. As I am beginning to watch every Edgar Wright film, I have only watched Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim. Even from those two movies, it’s clear that Edgar Wright truly has a firm grasp on how to visually convey comedy. A movie about zombies lends itself to that style extremely well. There are many moments in Shaun of the Dead that are very distinct from anything I’ve ever seen before, and that’s part of it’s charm. Seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost run around trying to make it to a bar while killing zombies (in a brilliant over the top way) takes the road trip genre to a new place. One thing that amazes me is his sense of pacing. Edgar Wright makes it so the comedy is quick, sharp, yet easy to understand. And the buildup works. While I can praise the comedy in this film, it seemed like Edgar Wright tried forcing a somewhat serious subplot in, which is in part a portion of the element of parody, but it didn’t come off as that. When the more serious portions came up, it seemed out of place and that the scene belonged in a different film. On that note, it should also be noted that sometimes, the acting doesn’t completely fit, which is partially because of the dialogue. There are two main types of comedy styles. One option is to represent comedy in the dialogue, but the other option is to use physical visual comedy. All too often, modern films only focus on the dialogue, while not caring about how the film looks. Edgar Wright realizes that visual comedy is extremely represented, yet, at times it feels like he missed opportunities for some funny dialogue. Overall, I truly enjoyed this one. It wasn’t anything too great, but it was certainly a fun time, and I’d definitely recommend it. 8.4/10