I was no fan of George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” so I went into this remake from Zack Snyder (“Watchmen”) with mixed expectations. I have no doubt that I enjoyed this movie a lot more than the original and for a zombie movie, it’s pretty good. However, it’s still a clichéd zombie movie.

As a worldwide zombie plague plunges the world into chaos, a band of survivors decide to take refuge inside a large shopping centre. It seems relatively safe inside but the arrival of more survivors and concerns about the long-term plan convince the group to consider trying to escape to a remote island.

The survivors in “Dawn of the Dead” include a nurse (Sarah Polley “Go”), a police officer (Ving Rhames “Pulp Fiction”) and a television salesman (Jake Weber “Meet Joe Black”). My favourite is undeniably the cop that Rhames plays. Most of the characters are not particularly interesting but are not too boring by the standards of zombie flicks. The zombies themselves are rather generic. This was one of the first movies to have the undead run, which certainly makes them more threatening than ones that move at a snail’s pace. Tom Savini, who did the make-up effects for the original “Dawn of the Dead” and played the biker gang leader, has a cameo.

The action scenes are rather good and there are a few amusing moments but most of the movie is very predictable. I also really hate the ending because it one of those endings that you only ever see in horror movies and it’s so clichéd. If you are into zombie movies then I think you will enjoy this but I just do not understand why they are so popular. I also have no clue as to why people would prefer the original to this.