Zack Snyder has been a busy Director recently. Released in 2021 on HBO Max was the epic four hour Justice League superhero action movie. Also being made available the same year, Army of the Dead, available now on Netflix. Good work Zack, now you can sit back and reap the rewards…but wait, there’s apparently going to also be a TV Series for Army of the Dead soon, as well.
If you like, love, or somewhat enjoy zombie movies…go watch this one!
Army of the Dead is two and a half hours of a healthy abundance of zombies, zombie kills, a parallel heist story, head shots, supreme action scenes, suspense, and plenty of blood and gore. Some might think that is too long for a zombie movie. Of course, there is character back stories, storyline build-up, and periods of the movie that slow the pace down. But it moves along at a good pace and has plenty of alluring intrigue to captivate the audience.
The movie starts out with an army convoy transporting a large crate from Area 51 to an unknown destination, which I don’t think is ever explained. A horrific accident happens and the classified cargo in the large container escapes. We get our first taste of Army of the Dead’s undead. What gets released is most likely from a military testing lab, or something, and it is pretty brutal! And lo and behold, the accident where the flesh hungry creature gets freed is within stumbling distance of our beloved Las Vegas. Guess the convoy should’ve used more precaution with its transport!
Cue the great Elvis/Vegas music for the Zombieland-type opening credits! This is a great introduction to what Army of the Dead will provide us as they show how Las Vegas is overrun by zombies. We are also introduced to a few of the main characters as they fight the onslaught. And finally, how they contain and quarantine Las Vegas to prevent the further spread of the ‘infection’. We also learn that government has come to the conclusion to nuke all of Las Vegas to end the infection once and for all. Every day the enclosed “compound” of Vegas is left standing the risk a zombie escaping, and spreading the infection, is immeasurable. This is all within the opening ten to fifteen minutes of the movie.
Getting past all that, as that is just the backdrop setting, we are introduced to Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada). He has millions of dollars in one of the major Casino’s basement vaults and he wants to get it before the nuke drops and wipes everything out. Mr. Tanaka goes about putting together a heavily armed and trained team to pull off the heist and is willing to pay handsomely.
Enter Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) and his team of mercenaries. We’ve already been introduced to several of them in the opening credits as they blasted through zombies to help save people and get Vegas quarantined. Which is why Tanaka is interested in hiring them for his task. They’ve fought the zombie hoard before. In addition to Scott’s team there’s Dieter, a quirky vault-breaker who has never fired a gun before and immediately steps on the toes of Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), a ripped dude that wields around a massive chainsaw. Also, one of Tanaka’s bodyguards is sent with them “to ensure things go smoothly”. Then there’s the “Coyote” (Nora Arnezeder) who has been sneaking people in and out of Vegas for whatever reason they need to get inside. She becomes their guide to get in and out of the shutdown city. It’s an unconventional hodgepodge cast of mischievous people with varying agendas.
There are several side stories in Army of the Dead. Mostly, they are solid depth additions to the main plot, but there might have been too much going on. Not that the viewer can’t keep up with it, but it may pose for distraction from the primary focus the movie. Which is, of course, zombies. Luckily, the scenes flow successfully, and the movie doesn’t slow down too much.
With how much money is in Vegas, you could imagine what people might try to do to get their hands on it, regardless of the risk being turned into a zombie. This plays a role in one of the mini plots involving Kate Ward (Ella Purnell), Dave Bautista’s daughter in the film. Kate discovers one of her closest friends went inside the quarantined zone in search of enough cash to get them away from Vegas and start a new life. Ultimately Kate forces her father, who is eager to fix their relationship, to accept her into the team’s ranks. Parts of this narrative were touching as the two try to figure out how to relate to each other again.
There was a different approach to the zombies in Army of the Dead. You have your normal “shamblers” that are the typical brain-dead slower brain and flesh monchers. But then there are the “Outlers” that are more intelligent zombies. It was clear that the changes made to create this unique type of zombie was to add suspense and high intensity in select scenes. It was highly effective in certain scenes. However, this change-up of the zombie is where the risk lies on whether the audience will accept Army of the Dead, or not. Regardless, the zombies’ practical makeup was fantastic.
Are there flaws with the movie? Sure. It’s a zombie movie. There are questionable decisions and actions by some of the characters. Hell, you could say that about the entire mission set in motion by Tanaka. Because of that, I found myself not as sympathetic to the characters as usual as they aren’t trying to escape the zombie apocalypse or save the world from it. It’s all personal needs or desires that drive them to walk directly into the face of the enemy zombies. On top of that, Kate’s desire to risk her life, and her father’s high-risk mission, to save one person lost amongst thousands of zombies I thought was a little annoying at times. The team also farts around when you would think they’d want to be hustling themselves to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
The length of Army of the Dead will be a problem for some, as well as a lot of focus on the Father/Daughter story between Dave Bautista and Ella Purnell’s characters. I felt these aspects were just part of the overall Snyder experience, however, and welcomed it all.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The colorful personalities of the characters really made this film intriguing. Although the movie is two and a half hours long I didn’t feel like it was that long. I was wanting more in the end. So, to me, that means the pacing was well-done, the action was spot on, and the plotline was catchy. Army of the Dead was full of glorious gore and the action was delightful. As a person who has an ear out, always searching for new music or how the music plays a role in a movie, I was highly satisfied with the song selection and placement in this one.
Army of the Dead fully satisfied the sometimes-unquenchable need for bloody, exciting, zombie entertainment.
And was that an Aliens nod with the quote “You don’t see them f***ing each other over”?
I highly recommend it!
Army of the Dead
Released: 5/21/2021
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Action
Running Time: 2 hour 28 minutes
Director: Zack Snyder (300, Justice League, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, Man of Steel)
Writer: Zack Snyder (story) (Wonder Woman, Justice League), Shay Hatten (screenplay) (John Wick 3), Joby Harold (screenplay) (John Wick 3, Future Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Stars:
Dave Bautista as Scott Ward (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2, Avengers: End Game)
Ella Purnell as Kate Ward (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Sweet Bitter series)
Omari Hardwick as Vanderohe (Power series, American Skin)
Ana de la Reguera as Maria Cruz (Power series, Narcos series)
Hiroyuki Sanada as Bly Tanaka (Mortal Kombat 2021, Sunshine, The Wolverine)
Nora Arnezeder as Lilly “Coyote” (Maniac 2012, Safe House)
IMDB Rating: 6.3 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 76%
Metascore: 57 out of 100
Streamable on these Apps with subscription at time of Blog Post: Netflix
Rentable on these Apps at time of Blog Post: N/A
Army of the Dead Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI1JGPhYBS8
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