When looking at popular genres, one of the most successful ones that audiences find themselves reverting back to with generally successful results are that of the Zombie genre. Zombie films have proven to be a strong sale with a prime example being George A. Romero's 1974 classic Dawn Of The Dead, later redone with its surprisingly strong 2004 remake from first-time director Zack Snyder. The latter's stature in film has risen since then with him being acclaimed as a visionary filmmaker despite his movies being considered polarizing in regards to their critical reception. With Netflix's Army Of The Dead, the hope one has going into it is that Snyder will make a triumphant return to the Zombie genre with him producing either something similar to or an undisclosed follow-up to Dawn Of The Dead. Neither appears to be the case here as Snyder gives audiences a completely different Zombie story involving a Las Vegas Casino heist that's visually appealing, but is unfortunately nowhere near the caliber of his first directorial work.
Returning to the genre that made him famous, Zack Snyder's Army Of The Dead finds itself focusing on the founder of a mercenary strike force (Dave Bautista) traveling to a quarantined Las Vegas with his team to fight zombies and steal cash from a defunct casino. Given the opportunity that both Snyder and the filmmakers had to present another viscerally thrilling Zombie apocalypse story, the end result feels like a tremendous disappointment. Army Of The Dead finds itself being the victim of an excessive running time and an uneven narrative, that often makes it feel like a missed opportunity to make something more exciting and frightening. The film is ambitious in what it wants to achieve, along with feeling over-the-top like Dawn Of The Dead but the story suffers from carrying a bloated length, as well as numerous plot holes and questionable character traits. Considering that one of the best modern horror remakes came from Snyder, it's profoundly disappointing to see how Army Of The Dead misfires in wanting to give audiences a new zombie tale that's both intense as well as providing solid popcorn entertainment. Despite serving as being an average to mildly entertaining effort, Army Of The Dead ultimately collapses under its own ambitions along with greatly boring audiences due to its length.
Whereas the film struggles in regards to story, its main cast proves to be a terrific ensemble led by the talented Dave Bautista. Bautista has been impressing audiences with his desire to become a stronger actor with him delivering solid work here as former mercenary Scott Ward. Bautista shows himself to be an appealing main lead with him effectively showing the grief his character carries after being forced to kill his wife turned zombie. Ella Purnell does well in her role as Bautista's estranged daughter Kate with their family conflict feeling believable to audiences. With her performance, the audience gets the sense of her characters frustration, anger, and hurt over her fathers actions in regards to protecting them from their wife/mother. The rest of the cast give fun performances to watch with Omari Hardwick and Ana de la Reguera as Ward's former teammates Vanderohe and Maria Cruz, Theo Rossi as camp security guard enlisted by Lily Burt Cummings, Matthias Schweighofer as German safecracker Ludwig Dieter, Nora Arnezeder as smuggler Lily, Hiroyuki Sanada as Bly Tanaka, Tig Notaro as Ward's helicopter pilot Marianne Peters, Raul Castillo as Chicano Sharpshooter Mikey Guzman, Huma Qureshi as Kate's friend Geeta, Garret Dillahunt as Martin, and Samantha Win as Mikey's associate Chambers. Whereas the film massively disappoints in the direction it takes its story, the cast comes to work and delivers performances that add to the mild entertainment value the film has to offer.
With Zack Snyder helming the story, audiences can expect to be treated to an opulent visual style that makes his universes appear to be richly dazzling in terms of scenery. His latest effort proves to be no exception with Zack personalizing the films look with shooting Army on an old yet fast Rangefinder (The Dream Lens), giving it a nightmarish type feel to it. The directors use of slow-motion shots is on full display here with the films opening credits sequence running several minutes in length, leaving no question that it'll appease Die Hard fans of both Snyder and the Zombie genre. The films make up effects and costume designs are top-notch with the new breed of zombies having a distinct look to them, which differentiates from previous ones shown before. These Zombies look creepy and are more over-the-top than what audiences saw previously in Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead, with the film also including different forms of zombies never shown before such as Valentine the zombie tiger and the inclusion of zombie robots (Yes, that is correct). Whereas the visual look of Army Of The Dead is on point, the films pacing is uneven with the first two acts being devoted to excessive character development before switching to non-stop action in its third act. The soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg proves effective in helping the film find the right tone with its opening song by Elvis: "Viva Las Vegas", feeling appropriate given the extreme nature of the story. For audiences familiar with Snyder's directorial style, they're aware that the filmmaker is no stranger when it comes to establishing fantastic set-pieces, stunning cinematography, and stylish action with a cleverly assembled soundtrack to up the excitement of the story. On this level, the film doesn't disappoint and gives audiences what they want in terms of visual eye-candy.
Co-Written by Shay Hatten, Joby Harold, and Snyder with the latter also sharing story credit, Army Of The Dead is an explosive zombie flick that's full of surprise twists regarding both its plot and characters while taking major inspiration from work such as 1986's Aliens. The script consists of bold concepts and themes including diversity, women in cabinet roles, war, power over others, disaster, nuclear attack, sacrifice, survival, fear, anger, crime, and grief. On the surface, the script has much going on with it desiring to add a significant amount of depth to its characters. The audience is treated to a conflict revolving around Ward and his daughter Kate that's intended to make audiences become invested in their arc, yet somehow falls short of carrying the desired effect. The film has numerous character subplots that feel lifted from other movies with the character of Geeta bearing a strong resemble to the character of Vasquez (Jeanette Goldstein) from Aliens, another film that dealt with a group facing off against a horse of dangerous inhuman opponents. The character of Geeta also goes as far as rocking a bandanna that's almost identical to the one worn by Vasquez in the 1986 classic. The betrayal of Martin also feels like a copycat version of the character of Burke turning on Ripley in that film. The script makes no hesitation in throwing unusual twists at audiences such as the main antagonist having a Zombie tiger names Valentine, that screams comparisons to King Ezekiel's pet tiger, Shiva from The Walking Dead, along with the bizarre revealing of zombie robots. One of the films big revelations is the reveal of Zombies being able to procreate with the films main antagonist (The Zombie King) pulling the baby out of the queen without the need of a human host. Overall, the script for Army Of The Dead finds itself taking weird detours with its story, along with going out of its way to flesh out its main group of characters. It isn't however, isn't devoid of plot holes or questionable character logic such as a sequence involving one main character attempting to escape being surrounded by a horde of zombies with the other human character watching in horror a few feet away without attempting to gun down some of the zombies, clearing a pathway for them. Other weird moments in the script involve a cleverly twisted sequence involving a military transport colliding with a pair of newlyweds, unleashing Patient Zero that started the zombie apocalypse. As a whole, the screenplay feels like a mixed bag with its plot having the potential to be a thrilling Zombie flick, but ultimately feels too slow and boring for audiences to become engaged in its story the way they did with Snyder's tremendously effective Dawn Of The Dead remake.
Snyder's Army Of The Dead is a zombie flick that had tremendous potential to be the successor to Dead which audiences envisioned it to be with the directors trademark style being present. It's disappointing however, to see the direction that both Snyder and the writing team go, which is the complete opposite of that film. The film contains much of what Snyder fans love about the filmmaker, yet leaves them dry in terms of providing suspense that's rapid. Although it can't be denied that the film is ambitious in what it sets out to do with giving audiences a thrillingly good time, the end result is far too long and bloated for it to work to its maximum effect. Dawn Of The Dead worked as well as it did because it kept things straight-forward and basic while giving audiences the goods in terms of showing gruesome zombies with human characters, who carried just enough development for audiences to connect with. Army Of The Dead's character development is too disproportionate in comparison that it ends up bogging the story down more than helping it. As a filmmaker, Zack Snyder has established himself as being something of a yo-yo in which he can churn out a film that's equally consistent in both visuals and storytelling while also producing work that's vice versa. To the most ardent fans of Zack Snyder, Army Of The Dead will please their desire for more of the directors work, although he won't win over any newer fans with his attempt to be bold here. As a Zombie story that's meant to be a "spiritual sequel" to Dawn, the film is a huge letdown with fans of the genre deserving better.
Final Verdict: Unless one is a fan of Zack Snyder's work and content with the films choice of an unusual running time, Army Of The Dead will prove to be a tremendous disappointment with one questioning the films unnecessary length .
Images courtesy of Netflix
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