Police officer Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by zombies.
Cast:
Andrew Lincoln - Rick Grimes
Jon Bernthal - Shane Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies - Lori Grimes
Laurie Holden - Andrea
Jeffrey DeMunn - Dale Horwath
Steven Yeun - Glenn
Chandler Riggs - Carl Grimes
Norman Reedus - Daryl Dixon
REVIEW:
The first season of The Walking Dead, based on the graphic novel of the same name, comes to the small screen with a palpable sense of heart and devotion to creating well rounded character that inhabit this post apocalyptic world. It succeeds from the opening episode, showing you that there so much more here than your basic zombie brain smashing, which it does still do. The characters are rich and intriguing; the acting from the cast is mostly pitch perfect. The ensemble as a whole work well together with Lincoln and Reedus being real standouts with fine performances. The overall feel of the show reminded me quite a bit of old school Stephen King, mainly The Stand (the Book), with a group of regular individuals being thrust into an insane situation. The characters are the focal point and with Frank Darabont, whose given us some of the best King big screen translations, at the helm for the first episode and as a producer overall, the show never loses its focus and quickly creates an immersive viewing experience. An impressive feat considering there are painfully few episodes in this first season, 6 in total. There are a few unavoidable faults, mainly due the genre being so well worn that it’s general tropes are 2nd hand knowledge for the most causal fan. Some situations will feel terribly familiar for most genre fans, I even noted a few musical cues, which are incredibly similar to motion pictures 28 days in particular in one sequence, that seemed to be acknowledging the fact that this isn’t new territory they are treading on. Still as a whole this show is impressively well done and should appeal to a lot of people, even those who think that the zombie genre is silly.
A-
