Let's see, how can I explain The Walking Dead? The best way to describe it is as "A film-quality drama series about zombies". Thank you, Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com. That really sums it up. It's like watching a movie made-for-TV, but one that's 50x better. It's kinda like...remember those great movies from the 70s and 80s? This is EXACTLY like those. Let's start off with the plot...
Andrew Lincoln is Rick Grimes, a former Sheriff. I say former because Grimes is shot in the field, causing him to be dormant in the hospital for some time. He wakes up and finds the world he knew now a desolate place overrun by "Walkers", zombies that are still active. Grimes is taken in by a man named Morgan Jones and his son Duane. After Rick gets himself together and finds enough weapons, he leaves Morgan and Duane in order to find his missing family. The pilot ends with Rick being cornered in a tank. Just as Rick considers suicide, a voice comes from the radio, seemingly knowing where he is.
O.K, for this review, I'll start with the good and then move onto the bad. Then, I'll give my final outcome. Enjoy. ;)
The Good: First off, this is a zombie fan's wet dream. Some of you may be a little upset as these are not the "28 Days Later" zombies, but more the "George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead" zombies. They're slow, stupid, and stupid. But, when they are in a large enough pack, they become animalistic and become very hard to kill. Also, the acting in this show is better than one would expect. I must admit, I became afraid that this show would fall victim to the "T.V Actor" curse. That is when everything else is amazing, but the actors are still T.V level actors. However, we quickly see that many of these actors are more than competent at their jobs, especially Lennie James, who plays Morgan. His subplot is very effective, since he is trying to keep his son alive in a world filled with zombies. Even the boy's mother has become a zombie. In fact, there is a great scene where Morgan tries to kill his dead wife and can't get the strength to. Andrew Lincoln is also great as our hero. I'd like to really see this guy in more stuff. The cinematography is ASTOUNDING at certain times. You really feel like you're watching a movie when you see this show. I...I really love this show, man.
The Bad: Don't fret, there isn't much bad here. But, as with most things, there is some. For example, some of the actors are less then stellar, such as Morgan's son. Also, even though he was great the rest of the show, Lincoln showed at a time when he was supposed to cry that he had a hard time with it. But, then again, most actors do have a hard time with crying. Also, some of the writing could've been a LITTLE better, and I emphasize little. But, really, this show is so good, that those are very minor complaints.
So, what do I give The Walking Dead pilot? I give it:
5 OUT OF 5 JARS OF AWESOME SAUCE!!!
I just hope this doesn't turn out like Boardwalk Empire, where the pilot was great only because of the director, and the show ended up not being great. So far, that doesn't seem likely...
Tell me what you think in the comments below. ;)
Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS!!