11.26.09 - 9:49 am

such a relief. such a release of a heavy weight. i dont feel restrained by so much waiting and anticipation.

i feel good.

i saw it from the front row, right corner. the theater was packed with as much anticipation as i had. i imagine most everyone else there shared my wonderment in what was to come.

can you have wonderment for something like this story?

the complaints are nit picky. trivial annoyances for what was left out with what should have been included.

there should have been a lightning storm. with a wandering man walking mindlessly down the road the next day, severely burned on one side of his body, struck the night before.

there should have been the pregnant woman with the bad guys, and fetus carcass on the barbeque spit the next day as the man and boy pass.

there should have been more narration, read from the book. with such beautiful prose and exceptional language in the story, layering it over the films visuals more would have made it much more compelling.

the final scene was good. just as it was in the book. the shifty eyes. the filthe. the caution and mistrust. but with the music used to heighten the scene, it made it seem happy. hopeful. standard. this is not how i read this scene in the book. it wasnt supposed to be a happy ending. just an ending. as bleak and unpleasant as the rest of the story. the music took away that.

but the boy did great, as good as i hoped. the man did great, as viggo always does. and the brain was right when he said, "i didnt know we were seeing a zombie movie..." the characters all looked awful. sunken eyes. broken marred teeth. dirty. ragged. barely alive.

ill need to see this again. not from the front row, but from the center middle. so that im not struggling to focus my eyes and can instead focus on the characters.

im glad to have finally been apart of this, and had my good friends join me for a not so uplifting experience.