The first zombie outbreak in the US was a traumatic experience. The second much less so, mostly due to the invention of Zombrex, a drug which - if administered daily - will prevent those who have been bitten from becoming zombies themselves. This significantly reduced the death count and allowed many infected to continue to lead their lives.
So when the third outbreak occurs, the authorities seal off the area, ship in lots of Zombrex, and confidently predict the problem will be resolved in a few days. Only the most desperate of journalists - bottom feeders like Chase Carter - would bother to turn up to cover it in person.
And if you're thinking to yourself, "Self, I bet everything is about to go horribly, horribly wrong and ol' Chase will be at ground zero for it all", then clearly you have at least two brain cells to rub together.
So when the original Dead Rising game came out, a friend of mine had a real love/hate relationship with the game. On the one hand slaughtering hordes of zombies with all manner of improvised weapons - baseball bats, shovels, lawn mowers, you name it - was fun, but the game kept interrupting his gleeful carnage of the living dead with plot-related cut scenes and boss battles that he found much less enjoyable.
In this regard, the film accurately captures the game experience. It's fun when it's being gonzo, and letting Chase and his allies run amok with all kinds of silly zombie-slaying antics, but falls flat whenever it tries to bring in more depth. There's an ongoing plot regarding why things have escalated this time which is honestly not as interesting or engaging as the film-makers evidently hoped.
The zombie-fighting action here is good (if oftentimes a bit goofy). For fans of the genre it is definitely worth a look, and I had fun, but it's not even the best zombie movie based on a video game (that's still Resident Evil) so I can't really recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of either the franchise or of zombie media in general.
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