Movie Reviews

The Crazies with Timothy Olyphant

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Written by Jonathan Jacobs

     Set in a little far town in Iowa with a small population, a government engineered virus is accidentally released. A seemingly innocuous plane crash in the local reservoir went undetected by most of the inhabitants. Olyphant’s character Sheriff Dutton is forced to investigate due the peculiar events occurring in town. The film’s red hot opening occurs on a baseball field. A "normal" citizen walks onto the field during a pitching duel carrying a shotgun. He insanely threatens to fire his weapon at the sheriff. Instead of backing down Dutton at the last split second of an instant fires a lethal shot directly to Rory Hamill’s skull. Hamill’s wife is widowed and his estranged son is left fatherless. This "tragedy" becomes a majorly frightening storyline as the movie progresses. It is obvious to the sheriff and his wife Judy (played by Radha Mitchell) that something is amiss in town. People are acting strange and perhaps a little more confrontational that usual. While the storyline unfolds, and throughout the movie, we are privy to aerial satellite images of the town and its population. This is significant for reasons I will explain in the next segment.

     While investigating the strange happenstances, Sheriff Dutton and his deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) have their cell phone signals and internet connections disrupted. This occurs in the absence of any noticeable electro-magnetic pulse which is ominous. The Sheriff leaves the police station and wanders around town which is deserted. He finds his way into the coroner’s office where he notices several decomposing bodies with mouths and eyes sutured shut. Noticing one of the bodies is still groaning and moving he scissors the sutures off as the victim whispers "behind you". The coroner is apparently infected with virus released into the water system. He attempts to make his own version of Saw by cutting Dutton’s testicles off. This is the first time we understand the extent of the madness in town and the first time Deputy Clank saves his boss’ life. Mere inches from making the family jewels a publicly owned entity, Clark shoots the blood thirsty coroner. More aerial images and analyses are shown and presto, in comes the cavalry.

     Before having time to organize a resistance or to produce a cure, a government team enters town to exterminate the infected and to incinerate anyone that has come into contact with the virus. The citizens are rounded up into makeshift internment camps and the allegedly infected are strapped into hospital beds. This includes the Sheriff’s wife who is presumed diseased because of her elevated temperature. This is not an uncommon symptom for a pregnant woman, but one that nearly costs her two lives. The Sheriff is shepherded away from the raucous and safely out of town while the extermination proceedings occur. Lucky for Judy, her husband loves her and refuses to abandon her.

     The remainder of the film is the attempt of the four principal actors to escape extermination. Puzzlingly, they never consider the consequences of coming into contact with healthy people in a nearby city and potentially causing a pandemic. This may have been a point lost on the audience but not on my meandering mind. Their journey is not without major thrills, frills and terrors. At every turn they are hunted by government eradicators in helicopters, Escalades, tanks, and full contamination proof body suits. To make matters worse each escapee is convinced the others are infected. While taking refuge at their homes along the way, they encounter the infected. The Deputy is the real hero who kills almost everyone that stands in their way. The best scene in the movie occurs at a car wash. The four are trapped inside of a flimsy car while having no view of the outside. All four are viciously attacked. To rescue their friend they abandon the car for an instant when a helicopter swoops in and terminates their vehicle. This movie is now a footrace!

     Eventually even the Deputy realizes he is infected and helps Sheriff and Dr. Dutton escape to the highway. He gives his life for theirs in an altruistic fashion. Realizing his life was already forfeit he did the right thing for his true friends. Adding to the fever pitched suspense, once they escape to the outskirts of the next town to a rest stop, our cute couple encounters stacks of dead carcasses, unlimited supplies and three of the most grotesque living rejects impacted by the virus. After nearly dying again by fending them off, with only about a minute to go before the town is scheduled to be incinerated with a tactical nuclear strike, they drive away in a massive truck at the limit of its velocity. Narrowly escaping the center of the blast, they are flung in a melted heap onto the side of the road and miraculously survive without wearing their seatbelts. Good grief, what an epic escape…Until we are hit with the hilarious irony of technology’s advantage over human frailty. The satellite detects their movement and another quarantine procedure is initiated in the next town over. Game over.     

     The Crazies never lets us rest. The suspense heightens every moment. This is a masterstroke because there is no obscure mystery. The plot is made obvious and the action sequences though predictable are horrifying. It is nearly impossible not to find the vulnerability of the surviving characters exciting. The Crazies is a thrill ride. It is comparable to riding a rollercoaster as the first tester to see if there are any safety flaws. Timothy Olyphant and Josh Duhamel oddly look alike. The difference between them is Olyphant can act and act well. Duhamel is sort of the lame version of the more talented Timothy. Films worth comparing The Crazies to are 28 Days Later (not 28 Weeks Later which is anything but exhilarating), Resident Evil 2, and I Am Legend. I might even throw in Night Of The Living Dead 2 for good measure. One thing is for certain, this is one scary movie that might have you hesitate to walk to your car. When you arrive, look in the back seat just to be sure!

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