Review: The Crazies (2010)

Movie: The Crazies (2010)
Genre: Horror
Review Category: Movie Showing in Theaters

I'm not usually excited for horror films, not that I hate the genre or anything, but lately I've felt it's either lacked originality or focus. And The Crazies, not to disappoint, managed to do both. The first of the two is obvious, this is a remake of the 1973 film by the same name. Not having seen the original but noting that the master of anything "Zombie" cinema George A Ramero directed and wrote the first one, I'm sure this version doesn't quite hold up to it's predecessor.
I don't know where to begin my gripe so I'll just dive in. I'm glad the movie got off to a quick start; it makes no sense in horror films for the audience not to be puzzled or given some action right off the bat. So check one in the plus column (note this may be the only positive).
My first real issue has to deal with one of the main characters, David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) who is the small town sheriff. He just makes too many connections about what is going on with no facts or proof to back up his 100 percent correct assumptions. Now this isn't to doubt the abilities of small town law enforcement, but when you're used to ticketing teenagers for taking farmer Smith's tractor for a joy ride, or tipping over the cow's in Mrs. Johnson's pasture, you probably haven't cracked too many complex cases in your career.
Gripe number two is that there just didn't seem to be enough blood and gore in the film. In today's horror industry with the SAW XXVII's (or whatever number of that franchise they're on) you have to do more than just show a little blood splatter. There have been Comedic movies that were more blood laden than this film. If this were 1980 then maybe the gory action scenes would be enough, but in 2010 I just wasn't impressed.
My other Gripe and what might be the worst one of all, is that the inconsistency of the "infected" people's behavior destroyed any hope this film had of being good and landed it at mediocre at best. It's very strange, the first few "infected" we meet seem unable to speak or show signs of deductive reasoning. After the initial two, we meet some who seem to think clearly and speak easily, and others, who like the first ones, are nothing more than lifeless zombies we don't call zombies. I'm completely fine with the "infected" of the film having basic or superior human intellect, really I am. However, they either need to evolve this ability or have it shown from the beginning of the film. We cannot have instances where poor directing or a poorly written script make a scene draw out for no real reason just because all of a sudden one of the "infected", who have never spoken before and don't after, has something to say. It just cheapens the movie and insults the viewing audience. Seriously in this day and age if you can't have someone in a horror film die or almost die in a new and inventive way you don't deserve to direct in Hollywood. So for these reasons I'd rate this film Catch if you're in the mood.