“Gunn Misfires”

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
directed by Raja Gosnell
based on characters created by Hanna-Barbera Productions

Dawn of the Dead
directed by Zack Snyder
based on the 1978 film by George A. Romero

both screenplays by James Gunn

           What everyone really wants to do is direct. Cinematographers, production designers, editors and other professionals may feel their current position is only a stepping stone toward the throne known as director’s chair. Occupational changes of this sort are by dissatisfied personalities in an artistic field that infrequently compliments the collaboratory technicians involved. Without debate Jan De Bont, Bo Welch, Mikael Solomon, Barry Sonnenfeld, John Glen, Peter Hunt and Stuart Baird were more prolific, if not more successful, in other positions before their promotion. Nicolas Roeg and Catherine Hardwicke, though, are evidence of possible transitions seeming effortless. There are plenty of screenwriters who also adapt well and those who don’t, and, for that matter, there are just plain good directors and bad directors, neither of whom ever made any changeover. Still it remains a problem for those who do advance to overcome past achievements, particularly if they show no prowess in helming a feature.
           Raja Gosnell is an editor-turned-director and one of the main problems seen with such a filmmaker is that editors like a lot of coverage. Never mind his obvious inexperience with actors (excusably made up for by giving them “more freedom”) and a poor sense of space and movement in front of the camera (especially involving special effects), the director allows so many setups and shots that each scene becomes desultory.
           Regardless of his sloppiness, there’s no necessity for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed other than as a more tolerable replacement for its own predecessor, also by Gosnell. They share a self-parody hip-ness long been overkill for the based-on-TV trend. Though not expecting a cartoon adaptation to share the welcomed seriousness that made a surprise of S.W.A.T., there is a disappointment found in the product placements and references to Earthly pop culture placed within an overtly fictional setting as Coolville. This is contrary to what I desired ten years ago as a fan of comic books and television: more relationship between fantasy worlds and my own. Allusion, though, can produce a time stamp that tends to drain the magic out of fantasies. While the cartoon series “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” has found audiences for more than thirty years even with dated fashion, the recent movies shall disappear easily from mass consciousness. The benefit of such passing will be that, unlike good parodies and satires, these won’t dent the foundation of the classic series.
          Screenwriter James Gunn, an admitted fan of the ‘toon, wrote the first Scooby-Doo with respect to the entire duration of the characters by including Scrappy-Doo, an obnoxious mini-me type introduced in a tradition of adding characters to series with nowhere else to go (votes on JumpTheShark.com point to Scrappy for the series’ downfall while some fans defend their love for him). The only creative turns more repulsive toward beloved icons are the “lets see what they were like as young children/babies” attitude of the 1980s that included “Muppet Babies”, “Flintstone Kids”, “The New Archies” and, of course, “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo”. Perhaps by making Scrappy-Doo the villain was Gunn’s way of showing his own denouncement of his existence, but then, wouldn’t the inclusion add fuel to the fire?
        With his screenplay of Monsters Unleashed, Gunn defends his fondness for the show and makes it up to the fans by referencing nothing but the original series. Bringing back villains such as the Black Knight, Captain Cutler and Miner 49er, among others, the movie not only pays homage but also fits in with the continuity as well. Minus the gags involving a Burger King milkshake and a Sir Mix A Lot record, one might actually get the feeling of watching a live-action version of the cartoon as opposed to retrospective mockery. The unmasking in the end is less an elbow-nudge gimmick as an impossible irrelevance (if only masks existed like found here or the Mission:Impossible or Charlie’s Angels films) akin to the customary episode guidelines. Though not recommended viewing, I’ll admit that for fans, the sequel is the picture that the original should have been.

          James Gunn’s script for Tromeo and Juliet was the most fun Shakespearean adaptation or update of the ‘90s and possibly the one the Bard would have been most proud of. Packed with crude humor, splattering gore, and narration by Motorhead’s Lemmy, the film may not have achieved a major release other than midnight screenings at The Angelika in an auditorium adjacent to the one playing Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet only a month or so before. As an employee of the theater at that time, I was far more interested in the Troma release and the people going to see it. If Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes were the MTV Romeo and Juliet, Will Keenan and Jane Jensen were the punk ‘zine.
          Now Gunn is MTV (and Cartoon Network) with his re-imagining of Dawn of the Dead, a movie more for afternoon mall rat multiplex audiences than midnight cult screenings. With expert direction from Zack Snyder, this his first feature after many car commercials and music videos, the film is the creative opposite of Scooby Doo 2. I wouldn’t say to go out and see that movie any more than this one but at least it is about something, albeit a sappy sitcomish something involving friendship and being yourself, but as cynical as critics might be towards such ‘messages’, they still aren’t such a bad thing to teach the children.
           Gunn wants audiences to think of both his re-imagining and the original George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead as coexistent stories. In this regard the script holds some curiosity into how different humans might deal with similar situations, but other than that, the movie isn’t that fun to watch. Romero has satire and more human interaction while Gunn and Snyder focus on action and violent interaction. One of the better parts of the original is how Scott Reiniger and Ken Foree can just run through the mall without having to shoot every zombie in their way.      Watching the new film is like passively watching a video game.
          The most upsetting thing, though, is what the picture purports to be. Using the tagline and quote (also used in the original), “When there’s no room in Hell, the dead walk the earth,” generates very little meaning and I would hope that instead of making zombies the effect of infection, someone could make a zombie flick where Hell really is full and there is some suspense in whether the characters who are alive are Hellbound or not. Instead this picture plays on ideas of global outbreak and the subsequent morality issues. Fitting for current events but still not very fun, particularly with the realization that the new film is almost scene for scene with the more enjoyable and even less believable Maximum Overdrive.
           I’m not the most favorable critic towards horror films unless I’m genuinely scared, amused, or given something to think about, preferably rooted in the same philosophical tradition as great science fiction (as did the recent 28 Days Later). Dawn of the Dead plainly did none of these things for me.