Johnny Z (2023)

Johnny Z (2023). 1h 35m

“After escaping from a government testing lab, a half-human/half-zombie escapes into the wild with a helper who manages to turn him over to a friend who manages to teach him martial arts as a means of defending himself in a zombie-plagued world, but when the government agency tracks him down must try to survive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was a big disappointment with a lot of factors holding it back. One of the main detriments on display is the wholly confusing and convoluted beginning that really makes it hard to get into. As weu0026#39;re dropped into this story involving a dystopian wasteland overrun by zombies and a government corporation experimenting on an individual to be able to develop a curse from his blood, the lack of context without any kind of preamble to set it up is immensely difficult to follow. The clandestine nature of it all, the vagueness of whatu0026#39;s going on, and not filling in the blanks are all a part of what helps to make this feel way too twisted and scattershot from what it couldu0026#39;ve been. It doesnu0026#39;t help that this highlights the second real issue in that itu0026#39;s way too ambitious for what it really is. An obviously low-budget affair rife with the kind of flimsy effects and small-scale production despite being set after an apocalypse, thatu0026#39;s not even enough to overlook the convoluted storyline here that pulls off way too many aspects that it doesnu0026#39;t need to. Containing a highly over-the-top and far more twisting narrative as we have to deal not just with the master/student relationship being built up over their training sessions as well as the race to recover him that seems to have way too much going on, all of which end up lowering this one overall. There are some aspects to really enjoy with this one. When it works is the use of the Action and Horror elements being mixed together. Featuring a ton of impactful martial arts sequences with the use of training scenes between the two or the series of battles here which might not have the type of fancy choreography expected, the hard-hitting and continuous action here focusing on the training sessions, the interactions at the undergrounding fighting club with the other zombies, or the final half which is a massive series of hand-to-hand or weapons-filled battles provide a slew of high-energy scenes filled with cheesy gore and bloodshed. Alongside the fine zombie makeup for the creatures, these provide the positive points here.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.”