We've seen the same concept before, of a bad-ass going into a dangerous quarantined city to save someone (in Escape from New York for one), but this time, there's "zombies" and robots. The "damned" of the title are actually the people stuck in the city as the "zombies" are not really dead, just people sick and rabid. Other than that, they act just like the running zombies from 28 days later. This movie was more action than horror with minimal frights, suspense or gore. At least for me. The actions scenes were usually cut in rapid-fire fashion, seemingly as to avoid lingering on the moves or faces of the Thai extras playing the infected who were probably just dirtied up instead of having actual horror make-up. I didn't much care for the editing of the action scenes. I suppose the sequences where Dolph dispatched enemies one by one with a knife were fine. Most of the up-close or shooting scenes were disappointing. Dolph Lundgreen is unfortunately getting older as he obviously has trouble running, and his punches and kicks are not as vigorous as they used to be. For an action film, it matters as I kept thinking that Dolph was going through the motions instead of actually fighting.
The CGI robots were done nicely enough (although recycled from Robotropolis), but they took too long to appear, had no personality and seemed underused to me. There were some nice shots by the director, especially in the luxurious house hideout and the ruined building at the end with the reflections in water. Dolph was his usual stoic self except when doing grimaces while fighting. For characters other than Dolph, the acting wasn't horrible but it wasn't memorable either. Duke, the older guy, was a bit better than the others. As previously stated, the story wasn't that original and, in execution, I never really found it gripping, but it was watchable. The role of the robots might have been a surprise if it hadn't been ruined in the movie's description. Coincidental convenient meetings in that big city also bugged me (Max and the girl, the soldier, etc.) I wouldn't recommend paying too much for a rental if the subject matter interests you.
Rating: 5 out of 10 (average)
The CGI robots were done nicely enough (although recycled from Robotropolis), but they took too long to appear, had no personality and seemed underused to me. There were some nice shots by the director, especially in the luxurious house hideout and the ruined building at the end with the reflections in water. Dolph was his usual stoic self except when doing grimaces while fighting. For characters other than Dolph, the acting wasn't horrible but it wasn't memorable either. Duke, the older guy, was a bit better than the others. As previously stated, the story wasn't that original and, in execution, I never really found it gripping, but it was watchable. The role of the robots might have been a surprise if it hadn't been ruined in the movie's description. Coincidental convenient meetings in that big city also bugged me (Max and the girl, the soldier, etc.) I wouldn't recommend paying too much for a rental if the subject matter interests you.
Rating: 5 out of 10 (average)