Zack Snyder first made a name for himself with his remake of the old zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. Perhaps the first appearance of the so-called “fast zombies,” it put Snyder and his rather unique aesthetic on the map. From there, he’s mostly seemed to concentrate on adaptations of various comic books with the occasional attempt at something deep with a Sucker Punch here or there. Given the last few of his movies were tied deeply to Superman and the Justice League, what would Snyder do on his own, given a chance to do anything?
Apparently, he opted to make another zombie movie. Army of the Dead returns Snyder to the general oeuvre that he got his start with.
After a rather suspenseful opening where a military caravan accidentally lets some kind of super-zombie out to run amok in nearby Las Vegas. The opening credits show the standard Vegas types being overrun one-by-one while the military does what it can to either wipe the zombies out and rescue what survivors there are in there. In the end, containment is the only option as the city is closed off and quarantined. Eventually, a decision is made to just nuke the city and end the zombies once and for all.
By the by, the opening credits to his movie, showing the attempts to bring the zombies down, showing various military types killing them and being killed in return, is perhaps the movie’s highlight. Then again, the same could be said for Snyder’s movie version of Watchmen.
Regardless, mercenary Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) is approached by casino owner Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada). If Ward can gather a team, get into Tanaka’s casino, break into the safe, and get out again, he can have a significant piece of the $200 million in there. Needing the money, Ward recruits old friends Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) , Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) and Peters (Tig Navaro), Instagram influencer/zombie killin’ sharp-shooters Guzman (Raul Castillo) and Chambers (Samantha Win), and naive safecracker Dieter (Matthias Schweighofer). Joined by Tanaka’s security chief Martin (Garret Dillahunt), the only thing left to do is find a way in. For that, Ward needs to turn to his estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) who works as a volunteer caring for Vegas refugees as they are checked for the zombie virus and gradually allowed to leave. Kate picks up the last two members of the group: Lily (Nora Arnezeder), the guide who knows a few things about what goes on inside, and Cummings (Theo Rossi), the sexist jerk border guard who works the camps with Kate. This group should be able to get in and get the cash, right?
Well, let’s be honest. There’s obviously more going on here than suggested. For starters, while many of the zombies are the classic sort of mindless shamblers whose only real advantage is in their numbers, but then there are the Alphas. Those bitten directly by the original zombie are smarter, faster, and even seem to have their own culture and language, ruled as they are by the original, called Zeus, and his female partner the Bride. These zombies know how to do things like dodge blows, fight smart, and even wear protective head gear. Between the smart zombies and the real reason for the team to go in, it may not be so much whether or not the team can succeed in their mission but how many of them can survive the trip.
In many ways, this is a prototypical Zack Snyder movie. There’s a lot of good visuals, slow motion shots, and cool-looking moments. I will even give the movie credit for using many of the most Snyder-ish shots from the trailer were used for some clever fake-outs in the actual movie. The actions scenes got my blood pumping and were largely well-executed. Heck, the only time I thought I saw something stupid was an opening credits bit showing paratroopers dropping into the middle of zombie hordes, a moment that made me wonder aloud what anyone planning such an operation would think was going to happen.
On the other hand, Snyder isn’t exactly creating memorable characters here. Anyone watching the movie will know most of these characters are not getting out of the city alive, and the viewer can probably even guess which ones will die sooner rather than later. But do we care if they do? What amounts to emotional conflicts between the character, most notably between between Ward and Kate, seem to be settled rather easily, and none of these characters are deep enough to really arouse much sympathy. But that’s part and parcel for a Snyder-directed movie. You’ll get some cool action scenes, but you won’t get deep characters. This was, all told, an entertaining diversion, but I doubt I am going to be remembering it much in a few weeks. Consider that when you look at my grade below.
Grade: B
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