BOTTOM LINE: Although commendable for its subtlety and seriousness, “The Crazies” is unfortunately a bland and lifeless take on the zombie flick that is instantly forgettable.

THE GOOD: You know the drill with zombie movies: virus infects people, people transform in to zombies who go on a killing spree. This version also has the military thrown in to good effect. Director Breck Eisner has remade the original George A. Romero film with a subtlety and seriousness that is commendable and surprising at the same time. This film attempts, and sometimes succeeds in generating suspense through performance rather than outright gore and nasty make-up. The first scene where Sherriff Dutten (Olyphant) confronts a local man with a shotgun at a baseball game is quite gripping and sets the stage for what is to follow in the use of subtlety and performance. The zombies themselves have a more realistic, virus-infected look rather than blood and guts dripping from every orifice. The killing scenes, while brutal, are more subtle than normal and highly effective. On these scenes, perhaps the ones that are the harshest to watch are not from the zombies but from the military who shoot down any one and anything in their way, even innocent people who have not been infected by the virus. Actors Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell do the best they can with the material and are quite watchable. Joe Anderson has the best role in the film as the loyal deputy sheriff who slowly turns on his colleagues, but eventually commits self-sacrifice to save them when he learns he too has been infected. “The Crazies” is commendable for the approach it tries to take compared to the usual zombie flick.

THE BAD: Zombie films rarely deviate from their premise and “The Crazies” is no exception. In this respect, we have seen everything here before. However, this is no excuse not to have fun with the material, but unfortunately, just about everything with this film is lifeless, to pardon the pun. There is no spark or energy, aside from a few tense moments here and there, to really pull you in to the action. As a result, watching this film feels very mechanical and decidedly un-scary. And the ending leaves little room for improvement, doing the inevitable thing that a lot of these films do these days by opening up the possibility for a sequel. “The Crazies” is forgettable, which is unfortunate as there are moments here and there where it is possible to see a better film in what we have been given.