Review: Dead Rising: Endgame

Well, this came as a pleasant surprise.

The second (technically third, but we don’t talk about Dead Rising Sun) live-action Dead Rising film, Endgame, dropped onto the digital video service Crackle yesterday. I loved the first film, Dead Rising: Watchtower, and had been looking forward to it’s sequel, especially with announcements like Chuck Greene appearing in the film and Billy Zane to be playing the lead villain? I am so down for that. Well, how was it then? Did it at least live up to the first film? Honestly, yes and no.

To recap, Endgame is a canonical entry in the Dead Rising universe, taking place at some point between the events of Dead Rising 2 and 3. We follow Frank West wannabe reporter Chase Carter, who narrowly survived a zombie outbreak when the Phenotrans-produced anti-zombie drug Zombrex stopped working all of a sudden, leading to a government take over of the entire situation- resulting in the Zombrex Chips we see in Dead Rising 3, which are surgically implanted and administer Zombrex on their own. Unfortunately, these chips also act as homing devices, and the government keeps tabs on every single infected man, woman, and child.

About a year or so has passed, and Chase is keeping close tabs on the story, trying to break the news to the whole world- but it’s a dangerous game that he’s having to play a little too close to the chest. Anybody that asks too many questions have a habit of simply vanishing, including Chase’s partner, Jordan. Stopping at nothing to get to the truth, Chase puts himself on the line, and discovers a terrible secret- the Zombrex Chips are more than just homing devices. They actually act as a poison if the dosage of Zombrex they put out is increased, which turns out can be done automatically, en mass, from the push of a button inside a command building inside the quarantine zone from the first film, and the military’s plan is to push that button– ending the lives of half of the American population in an instant. Chase, along with his girlfriend Sandra (a skilled hacker), a buddy with lots of guns named Garth, and Hancock, an ex-Phenotrans researcher who can’t stand by and watch millions of people die, head into the quarantine zone to shut down the military’s plan.

So, good old Dead Rising. Much like the first film, it features a deliciously sexually diverse cast, and plenty of twists and turns to keep the action moving. It is significantly slower than the first film, which isn’t to its benefit. There’s a lot of standing around and talking in this film, and it causes the pacing to be a little rocky- especially anything involving Phenotrans, but there’s plenty of bloody zombie action to balance it out. You just kind of have to wait for it. Like I said, the balance between men and women in both this film, and Watchtower, is great. Never do women seem to fall into typical hollywood rolls, screaming and freaking out, but rather are strong and confident, and just as capable as the men. Even when one of the women in this film does end up in a really terrible situation with a very terrible man, she manages to come out on top and wins the fight in a very decisive manner (it involves knives and penises). The male characters are also equally balanced- not superheroes and not all of them brave, but the right ones have it where it counts. It’s refreshing to see, and I appreciate it just as much in this film as I did the previous.

There are a few bumps in the road that are largely do to editing. The editing in this film, along with some very poor cinematography, really bogs down any of the tension and drama the film trys to convey. Even the best actors in the film (especially Billy Zane, who delivers a movie-stealing performance as the confident, above it all mad scientist Rand) end up feeling awkward as the camera stays on long shots of just their face as they deliver dialogue to characters off camera. With no back-and-fourth, it leads to a sort of high-school “one man show” look, and it feels tremendously awkward. It also seems painfully clear that either the budget was cut in between films or the studio held a tight reign on what that budget was used for. Billy Zane, arguably the biggest name in the film (well, other than the All-State Insurance guy) only has about five minutes of screen time, and comes in and out of the film like they were only able to pay him for a single day of shooting. Coupled with the awkward editing and camera work, it only makes these relatively small problems seem much larger, which is a shame because otherwise the film was great.

Some really great Dead Rising style violence takes the center stage every no and again, and it’s wonderful to really see the film go to town in a way the first film didn’t. Tape it or die, the motto from Dead Rising 2, is the law of the land here, and we get to see several more of the Dead Rising universe’s combo weapons come to life, and deliver gory finishing moves on the ranks of the undead. The violence does end up being held back a bit due to a reliance on computer-generated gore. I don’t know about most people, but digital blood and guts look awful to me, and it looks terribly obvious whenever any movie tries to pass it off. Growing up on practical effects really kills digital effects for me, although there were a couple of delectable kills (one in particular mashes a zombie’s head down into paste, causing his eyeballs to bug out. So that was great). There’s one sequence towards the end of the film that’s just so much fun that it was hard not to love regardless of how meh I felt about the special effects.

Overall, the film suffers from some pacing and cinematic problems that keep it from being quite as good as its predecessor, but I still enjoyed Endgame quite a bit. It was fun, gory, and delivered more of what I liked about the first film regardless of the dip in quality. It’s still leagues above the usual dreck we get when our favorite games are turned into movies, and any Dead Rising fan would be able to enjoy this film in my opinion. It doesn’t have the style or money the Resident Evil movies have, it doesn’t have the dedication to the craft that the first Silent Hill film had, but it does have a solid script and plenty of fun- mixed with some nerdy Dead Rising universe Easter eggs and lore.

(6.5 / 10)