In The Revenant, even death cannot separate a couple of best friends.

Bart (Dave Anders) is happy to be home from the Iraq war; unfortunately, he didn’t come home alive – Bart is now a member of the walking dead. When his best friend Joey (Chris Wylde) realizes Bart needs human blood to keep from decomposing, the two begin to enforce local vigilante justice. The pair engages in a killing spree across the city, eliminating Los Angeles’ lowlifes and feasting on their corpses. However, eventually their good deeds come back to haunt them.

This is your average buddy comedy with a twist. The guys hang out, drink, get high and go cruising every night. Of course, in addition to these typical male activities, Bart and Joey kill criminals and greedily devour their bodies. Also, Joey’s car is the least inconspicuous vehicle to be used in a crime spree, as it is colourfully painted with a surfboard on the roof. Unfortunately, reliving almost the same night repeatedly tends to become less and less entertaining fairly quickly.

The film skirts around a commentary on the Iraq war and the L.A. police department but makes no definitive statements – and writer/director Kerry Prior did not elaborate on any of the possible meanings during the post-screening Q&A. Potential interpretations include the condition of returning soldiers, the violent incidents instigated by the LAPD and the use of experimental weapons during wartime.

On the lighter side of things, Prior’s experience as a special effects artist on various major feature films means the make-up and effects in his own feature debut are top notch. The blood looks good and the decomposing undead are more than just pale and scaly. The best effect is a talking head that really does look severed; also, an impressive looking vibrator is used to stimulate the vocal chords so it can talk.

The inclusion of a romantic element is irrelevant to the overall story, though it is there anyway – a straight-forward buddy comedy would have been preferable in this case.

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean will appeal a recent decision by Haiti’s electoral council rejecting his run in the country’s Nov. 28 presidential election. The former Fugees member’s candidacy was rejected beacause has hadn’t resided in the country for the past … Read more

Here are top 20 programs in Canada for the week of August 9-15, 2010. This chart shows the top TV programs for all home market stations for the week indicated. Programs are ranked based on their average minute audience. The … Read more

Here are top 20 programs in Canada for the week of August 2-8, 2010. This chart shows the top TV programs for all home market stations for the week indicated. Programs are ranked based on their average minute audience. The … Read more