Dead Rising: Endgame Movie Review

By: Justin Hopkins

** Spoiler Alert**

  Hello and welcome back to another edition of B-Movie Sunday. For those following along, know that I did Dead Rising: Watchtower last week, and was so hyped and needed to know what happened next, so decided to continue on with the sequel, Endgame. Had to know what Lyons was planning. What was Project Watchtower? What was to happen with Crystal? Would Frank West do anything? Most importantly, What happened to Jordan? Could it live up to expectations and be as enjoyable as Watchtower was? The answer… Is a mixed bag one. Lets delve in and see about straightening things out and see where we land.

The movie kicked off, with a video montage, of what happened in Watchtower and what has been going on since. Mixed with some goring images and music. Worked out really nice and got the ball rolling. Going to years after the end, and we see Chase and his source following a military vehicle through East Mission City, which is still a quarantine zone. With Girlfriend Sandra and fellow reporter Jill a good bit away on back-up. Once Chase got inside we see General Lyons talking with a drug dealers. Swapping drugs for people and talking about project Afterlife, before the source is dragged in and killed. Chase barely makes it out alive, and takes his video to his boss and Lawyer at the News Station who shots it down for being too dark ( It wasn’t.)  and told he needs to stop chasing ghost before he ends up like Jordan, and that she is gone forever. Then Sandra says he is going to kill himself. All of which sends him to the bar with Jill. This is where he meets Garth. A scientist from Phenotran, who tells him that Afterlife is basically a kill switch that will instantly kill anyone with the Zombrex chip in twenty four hours, unless they can get into the server farms and stop it. Kick starting the must needed clock for a Dead Rising movie and things picking up from there.

We’ll start with the positives, unfortunately, there wasn’t many to be seen here. I loved the camera angles and long shots. The fight scenes were all really good and embraced its source material. From using Flares to crazy built weapons made it for some slick zombie killings. The escalator scene was a lot of fun, with chase sliding and leaping with all zombies falling down and coming from everywhere, but for my money the lab scene was better. Long shot made for some shaky moments, but the creative kills within made it stand out that much more.

Jesse Metcalfe was much stronger character this time around. Knowing his character a little better and able to flesh him out some more. Felt like he was able to shine and felt like he belonged.  We get a Chuck Greene this time around, and while I would have loved seeing him having more to do, ( Why do they not like the game characters) I did like the fact he did do a little. Shooting down some before lifting one into the Helicopter blades. Small but enjoyable.

The introduction of the super charged zombies, was handled perfectly. Where he was blended in the crowd, until the very last moment. Fans of the game know it immediately, when he looks right at them and was an exciting moment. Another, and the main reason I watched this one was the return of Keegan Connor Tracy’s Jordan. Her character work and disappearance was almost the driving force of this movie. Were screaming it during the montage, and her entrance was awesome. They make you think it was Sandra or Garth, and get stoked to see it was Jordan. However, they screwed it up by having her just hanging out and get captured and infected with a super charged virus and spent the rest of the time strapped a table. Feel like they missed a real opportunity turning her into a real badass character who is just a tank. Fueled by hate and anger over what they have done to her the last two years, and almost borders a crazy role, a role I think Keegan would have knocked out of the park.

This movie really suffers by being bland and generic. They don’t even bother trying to create intriguing stories beyond dry cliche. Logan was such powerful villain, because you believed he was desperate for the zombie infection to continue. That in normal life he was a loser, and in a world where he could be psycho; he reigned supreme. While the gang here was drug dealers who were aiding the government. Nothing special beyond that. The Doctor was good, but they waited to long to bring him up to mean anything, and Garth turning on them could be seen coming from a mile away. Would have been more shocking if he wouldn’t have turned on the group. Had they even bothered to write something different, they could have made something special, because they had all the tools they needed to make something special.

My biggest example of lazy writing is with Sandra. Now Marie Avgeropoulos played her well. The character is a carbon copy of Meghan Ory’s Crystal. They were bitten in Fortune City, who were abandoned by their friends and family, and brought out of there shell, by Chase. They even dress and look alike. Meghan Ory was amazing. One of the best parts of Watchtower, and by making Sandra a carbon copy. You doomed her from the start. Marie would have been a positive, had they made her a new character who met up with Chase during the two years gap.

Final verdict time, unless you were a fan of the first movie, and want to know what happened to Jordan, like I did. Really wouldn’t suggest this one. If you were a fan of the game, you might get a little bit of enjoyment from the action and carnage candy, but Watchtower did it so much better. The lazy writing doesn’t help matters either. Save yourself some time and check out something else.

Thanks for reading