Shaun of the Dead Was Brilliant

In a lot of ways, it feels like this film achieves the tone that Jim Jarsmusch's The Dead Don't Die was trying to go for. It's a really funny movie about a zombie apocalypse, which isn't exactly the most trod-upon ground in the world of filmmaking. I was aware of the cult status that surrounded Shaun of the Dead going into it, and so I had something of an idea of what I was going to walk away with: zombies, jokes, and rampant Britishness. I started this film to watch British people make jokes and kill zombies, and let me say, the film certainly didn't disappoint on that front. I wasn't really expecting to be too wowed by it and was kind of just looking for something to pass the time. However, I walked away from this film with a lot more than just that. What I didn't know before I finished Shaun of the Dead was how insanely well-written and well-done it was, well beyond even some of the best of what I watch these days, to say nothing of how much I would love it. Edgar Wright, the guy who made 2017's excellent crime drama Baby Driver, really delivered on all fronts with this 2004 zombie comedy, and by the time the credits had rolled on it, Shaun of the Dead had easily become one of my all-time favorite films. Calling this film anything less than brilliant would be doing it a disservice because this movie is a comedic masterpiece from beginning to end, can milk a joke without ever making it tired or uninteresting, contains very well-rounded, dynamic, and well-written characters to boot, and has a streamlined, well-defined, and excellently-paced plot to push it all along at a really satisfying and professional pace. In short, Shaun of the Dead was brilliant, and I want to talk about why.

To throw out the brief spoiler-free synopsis, Shaun of the Dead, a parody of many different zombie films, follows a loser from London named Shaun as he is very quickly forced to grow up once the zombie apocalypse happens.

The first thing this film does well is its humor. I think that a lot of comedies almost jump ship on their plots in pursuit of the joke, but Wright and Co. really thought a lot of their comedy through, and the jokes feel just as much a part of this film's world and story as the zombies do, but on a more elementary level, Shaun of the Dead is simply a really amusing and really funny film. In a lot of ways, it almost feels like Shaun The Sheep for grown-ups, and I mean that as a whole-hearted and sincere compliment of the very highest degree. If you watched Shaun The Sheep growing up, you know I'm telling the truth. The dry and deadpan British humor melds perfectly with the casting and perfectly with the story that is being told here, and it's really something to behold. The delivery of every joke is just incredible all across the board, and while I get that a lot of comedies sacrifice story and especially characterization at the altar of the joke, I can assure you that this is not the case with Shaun of the Dead. This film's plot is super simple and super well-written, and I want to discuss that in length later on in this article. But back to the jokes. The casting in this film is perfect, especially Simon Pegg as Shaun. Simon Pegg is just a really funny human being, and of course, I don't need to agree with everything he says and everything he does to acknowledge that. The film's characters just feed into the jokes of this film, delivering them in an excellent and almost unbearably dry manner until the funnier aspects of Shaun of the Dead are a raging bonfire of humor amidst something you're unlikely to find jokes in, namely a zombie apocalypse, and it's just a really incredible and amusing effect to see.

As far as the characterization goes in this film, the actors bring a lot of range to their roles, but the characters themselves are just insanely well-written, very funny, and all have a distinct voice and vision in a story where they need to, given that the cast for this film is relatively large while Wright is obviously still attempting to make every character feel unique and individual from their fellow members of the cast. Shaun is definitely the highlight of this film, as it should be, but the supporting cast is wonderful as well, especially Ed, Shaun's slovenly and hilariously stereotypical roommate who gives this film an absolutely epic air of bromance that I've rarely, if ever, seen replicated. I also just love how oblivious everyone in our clueless cast of lovable British characters is to the zombie apocalypse at the start of this movie, and it was pretty plain to see that Shaun of the Dead was a clear parody of a lot of different zombie films where people don't notice strange happenings that are a tad obvious. The characters are more than just characters: they're shameless vessels to poke fun at the tropes of the horror and zombie genres, and not only is that a good thing in this case, but it's also gloriously funny. And then there's Shaun. He's easily the highlight of the film, and I want to mention that he's a guy who's pretty easy to relate to for a lot of the film's target audience, and Simon Pegg simply did a fantastic job playing him.

To expand on Shaun and his character, I love how well-defined his goals are in this film. Shaun wants to...

1 - Get Liz, his girlfriend.

2 - Get Liz to safety.

3 - Drink a pint, in those words.

Once everything goes south and the zombies come, this is what Shaun wants to do, nothing more and nothing less (should I have marked this as a spoiler, or is this vague enough?) His goals are nothing earth-shattering, but they're relatable, simple, and even a touch comedic, which was a nice cherry on top. These goals help the plot of Shaun of the Dead to flow in a really straightforward and linear manner, and it's really something to behold. It's pretty unlikely that you'll ever be lost following this film, and in a lot of ways, it's the model case study for the fact that a simple film is not necessarily a bad film. Keeping Shaun's life goals simple really helped this movie double and triple down on what makes its characters unique not only from characters in other films but also from each other. It's remarkably simple yet intelligent writing and plotting, and all in all, these little tricks that the film adheres to religiously made Shaun of the Dead one of my favorite films of all time by the time it came to a close. I've really enjoyed talking about this film because I really love it, but I do need to make you all aware that this can, predictably enough, be a very violent film, although maybe not quite so much as other zombie flicks, both on a cosmetic level and also due to the fact that a lot of the violence in this film is played for laughs. As far as the parent's guide goes, Shaun of the Dead does have a decent amount of strong language in it, including one joking use of "c*nt," as in, "Can I get you c*nts a drink?" So take my endorsement of this film how you will, but Shaun of the Dead is truly a fantastic piece of cinema, and as I said, one of my all-time favorites, so I am sincerely hoping that you give it a chance sometime, if not now, then later, because it's hilarious, intelligent, very-well made, and extremely well-written. It's a one-of-a-kind film that took the zombie genre in a not-entirely-unpredictable and yet incredibly amusing direction, and I haven't seen it replicated since, and probably never really will see another zombie film capture the same magic this movie did. As I'm sitting doing a bit of background research on the film, apparently, Shaun of the Dead is the first part of an unofficial trilogy called "The Cornetto Trilogy," and to be completely honest, I haven't seen Hot Fuzz or The World's End, so yeah, call me not a real movie fan. But to tell you the truth, Hot Fuzz looks especially funny, so maybe I'll write about it in the future. But that's my piece on Shaun of the Dead. It's truly a wonderful film in just about every way, and it's one I hope you'll watch despite its relative obscurity, unapologetic cult following, and various excesses.

Shaun of the Dead - 10/10

Proverbs 17:22