Title: The Dead Don’t Die
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Carol Kane, Selena Gomez, and Tom Waits
What It Is: A zombie comedy that was written and directed by independent movie veteran Jarmusch. The movie is about a small town’s police department as they deal with a zombie invasion.
What I Thought: I’m a fan of some of Jarmusch’s previous works including one of this favorite movies Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (which also features a role along with a great soundtrack by RZA) When he heard that Jarmusch was doing a zombie movie with a great ensemble cast, he was in.
After seeing the movie, though I was extremely disappointed. The movie wastes a ton of great actors in a movie that is too confusing and tried to do much. It failed at every turn, from the attempts at being meta (having Adam Driver’s character talk about the song that played at the beginning of the fim being the theme song, to having him say he’s read the entire script, and having him have a Star Wars key-chain) to being a social commentary film, and being a standard zombie film.
For being a zombie film as it was marketed, it was very light in the blood and gore aspect, which was also very disappointing.
The script could have been so much better, but it felt like Jarmusch just wanted to do a zombie movie with a bunch of actors he’s used before in movies. Some of the more notable names in the movie felt like they were wasted in their roles including Gomez, and RZA.
My Grade: D. The movie was not that great I felt but it did get me to chuckle a few times. Those laughs though were spread out and not enough to save what should have been a great movie with a terrific ensemble cast.
The movie premiered at Cannes on May 14, 2019, and is set for release in the United States on June 14, 2019.