Pontypool
Oh, man. What do I even say about Pontypool? It's so good that it becomes hard to describe. What I will say is that every aspect of it is just incredible- creative concept, lovable characters, great pacing and atmosphere, all that. I'm not even one for zombie movies, but this made me fully insane.
I went into the movie blind, and I 100% recommend that; generally I don't care about spoilers, but the slow process of watching the characters figure out what's going on is great to experience it with them. You do still get some deliciously painful dramatic irony, though, crawling just a bit ahead of the radio crew. Hence, I'm not going to have spoilers in this review- you'll just have to trust me on how creative it is.
Without giving spoilers, then, here's something specific I loved: the tone. The dreadful, heartbreaking, heart-warming, and occasionally comic-relieving moments all flow together smoothly; it takes you on a ride, but not a bumpy one. You'll find yourself internally begging for things to happen, and (if you're me, anyway) they'll be fulfilled. I've got one specific scene in mind here, and if you do end up watching it, you'll know what I'm talking about. (Hint: it rhymes with Pig Gram Diss).
There's also some stellar dialogue in this film. "Kill the word that's killing you" and "It's not the end of the world, folks, it's just the end of the day" come to mind as my favorite lines, but even in terms of dialogue that isn't particularly deep, it's very solid overall. The movie is based off of and written by the author of a novel, which makes sense, as the writing that we hear- i.e., the dialogue- feels natural as well as poignant.
If I had to pick out a flaw... Honestly, it'd be hard. The only thing I can think of is that the in-your-face horror being based largely in disorganized speech may have ableist undertones in relation to schizophrenia, a very real and very misunderstood disorder that involves the same. However, Pontypool is far from an allegory for that, and I haven't heard schizophrenic people talk about things like that, so... maybe it's okay?
Anyway, please please please watch Pontypool. I couldn't possibly recommend it enough, and that's coming from someone who doesn't even care about zombie movies much. This is the most creative zombie movie I've seen or even heard of, and I have a feeling I'll be hard-pressed to find another like it.
Final rating: ★★★★★
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