The Crazies

All I see is Seth Bullock whenever Timothy Olyphant is onscreen. Sure, The Crazies is an offshoot of the zombie blueprint but all that matters is Bullock is sheriff again. In fact all movies and television that include a starring role for a sheriff need to be populated by Olyphant. Oh yeah, the movie was actually pretty good.

Although The Crazies did not break any new ground, it nailed all the stuff that you would expect to see in this genre. The initial stages of infection were handled well, the baseball scene, the infected standing still in the town jail, the emptiness of Main Street, and all the way up to the sudden arrival of the military. Of course you could call out whenever it was time for a scare but these moments were not overused. The best of these scenes was the infected waiting in the corner of the baby’s room. This was made better because it also included the baddestass kill in the whole movie. Just really well done zombie flick basics.

So … Timothy Olyphant. I just believe him when he is the guy in charge. And I believe that he is willing to kill anyone that gets in his way but that could be me bringing Deadwood baggage with me into the rest of his roles. The dialogue between him and his deputy, Joe Anderson, were some of the best little moments in the movie. It doesn’t matter that you were just counting down the minutes until the deputy was going to have to be put down like a rabid dog, they worked well together. Radha Mitchell was well cast as the sheriff's wife even if she was just playing the usual screaming victim role. And PIERCE! Secret Service Agent Pierce popped up for two minutes just to make my day.

The Crazies is a movie that I knew I wanted to see way back in the fall after seeing the first trailer. It was a really good trailer with slick song playing over it. Better yet the movie actually delivered. I'm looking at this as a sign that Justified will be the next great FX show and I will get to enjoy Timothy Olyphant as a badass sheriff every week.

7 out of 10