Many watched Z Nation expecting the worst and I believe many were pleasantly surprised. The show is obviously shot on a small budget but that doesn't keep it from being a zombie ass kicking good time.
One reason I love the show is that the characters in Z Nation have heard of zombies before the apocalypse. That means we don't have to go through those annoying scenes where no one knows how to stop a zombie until they hear or see a news report.
The acting is much better than expected for a zombie flick and maybe I shouldn't have been surprised by that. Harold Perrineau, Tom Everett Scott, Kellita Smith, DJ Qualls and Keith Allan are all veteran actors who know what they are doing.
I'm going to split this review up into three part, The great, the good, and the bad.
THE GREAT: A Star is Born
Move over bicycle girl zombie, well zombie, and tree zombie there is another famous zombie joining the pantheon of famous TV zombies, Zombie Baby!
Many slapped their heads and moaned when they first saw the Z Nation trailers featuring the zombie baby. It had campy written all over it and could have went badly. Instead the zombie baby was the highlight of the show. The zombie baby got more screen time than I expected and was crazy delight. (Although I would to see what Greg Nicotero would do with the zombie baby concept.) Two things bugged me out, how the baby went from not even being able to walk to moving 100 miles an hour and when did it get bit? I never saw it get bit. (Did anyone?)
THE GOOD: Zombie killing Action And a Few Scares
The show wasted no time in showing its propensity for violence and gore. There are several zombie and human kills early on and the action just ramps up from there. There are even two or three genuine scares especially the scene at the lake. Even though I knew what was coming it was still well done. Although the show seems to be more action oriented it doesn't forget the horror elements. If this continues this is most definitely a show I will continue to watch.
THE BAD: Lack of a budget and lacks of common sense.
I mentioned earlier that the show has a small budget and you can tell that what they do have to spend they put on the screen. The problem is with what they can't put on the screen. How many would have liked to actually see the zombie attack on Camp Blue Sky? Hopefully if the show proves to be a hit Syfy or whoever actually produces it can come up with some more money for the show's budget.
My other issue is not exclusive to Z Nation or any other zombie book or movie. The characters say or do incredibly dumb things to push the plot forward or just because the writer had a brain freeze. There were two instances that stood out for me. One in the beginning of the show where a character read a presidential executive order in the middle of a zombie attack before performing a medical test. The other was at the end of the show where the thought process had a main character going back in a building to kill zombie baby because they just couldn't leave it like that. Those that saw the show know what happened to that main character and although I expected that character to die in the pilot that was a shitty way to go out.
The zombies seem to be fast or slow depending on what the script calls for. Sometimes the zombies are hauling ass after our heroes and in other scenes they slowly enter a room one by one so that a single character with a hammer can kill several of them. But I can overlook that.
My only other gripe is why did the brotha have to die (both of them actually)? LOL.
SUMMING UP: I Like Z Nation
I like this show and will be tuning in weekly. I love the action, the sense of humor, and I really want to know where the phrase "I give you mercy." comes from.
Z Nation is good zombie fun!
George Cook thedeadwarzombieseries.com
