‘Army of the Dead’ Review

Zack Snyder is a director that people have mixed opinions on. He has a pretty dedicated fanbase, especially with everything going on with the Snyder cut and now the restore the Snyderverse movement. However, many see Snyder as a director who creates great visuals and action spectacle but struggles to create well-developed narratives. His first feature-length film, Dawn of the Dead, is often regarded as his best film. His second zombie film Army of the Dead is definitely bigger than his first, but it does lack in the script once more. 

Premise

When a zombie outbreak occurs in Las Vegas, the government is successful in keeping the outbreak contained within the city. The US government plans on nuking the city to stop the outbreak once and for all. Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) is recruited by a wealthy businessman to build a team and pull off a heist of millions of dollars in Las Vegas before the city is nuked. The crew will have to cut through a sea of zombies in order to pull it off on time. 

Review

Where Army of the Dead really shines is its concept and action scenes. The idea of trying to commit a heist during a zombie outbreak is fascinating. Yes, it sounds like something only a crazy or desperate person would try to do, but the film does a decent job at giving us characters who make sense for wanting to try something so dangerous. 

The action is phenomenal with some cool shots and great gun-play from the characters. There are often hordes of zombies, but there are a lot of well-shot combat sequences. Snyder does a great job at creating some brutal zombie violence. The zombies in the film are much more agile as the film changes up the lore a bit. There is a hierarchy of zombies and the alphas are strong, quick, and intelligent while the shamblers are the traditional albeit a faster version of zombies. 

The new spin on zombies is neat and creates plenty of cool zombie action not seen before. There is even a zombie tiger that gets a great scene to shine. The script does bring up some unusual questions about these zombies that don’t really get answered. It made me wonder why they even bothered with it. 

Unfortunately, the concept does get soiled by a script that is overly complicated. There are too many side plots to a very simple narrative.  The film is two and a half hours and did not need to be. For example, one crew member back stabs the others and his reasoning for doing so is really lame and didn’t work for me. The movie doesn’t spend too much time on it, fortunately, otherwise, it would’ve pulled me out. 

The side plots also brought in characters who didn’t need to be in the movie. Dave Bautista’s daughter in the film (Ella Purnell) joins the crew to find someone who is trapped in Vegas, but this doesn’t amount to much. It just causes unnecessary problems for Bautista and the crew. Purnell gives a good performance, but her character is not essential. Snyder wanted to give Bautista’s character an emotional arc by bringing in his daughter, but it took away from the actual heist I watched the movie for. 

Bautista is the standout of this film. He gives a solid performance and proves that he’s more than just a muscular action star. The crew itself is a lot of fun with everyone getting their chances to have a standout moment. My favorite two characters were Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) and Ludwig Dieter (Mattias Schweighofer). The two develop an unlikely friendship that is rather charming. 

Tig Notaro also delivers a good performance as a snarky, quick-witted helicopter pilot. Notaro is impressive since she replaces Chris D’elia in the role. She didn’t film most scenes with any of the cast and was digitally inserted later. It works well and if I didn’t tell you, you’d probably never notice. 

Final verdict

Army of the Dead gives you exactly what you came for but it tacks on plenty of unnecessary things that bring down the overall enjoyment. The performances are good and the characters are entertaining, but some of their motives are frustrating and don’t make a lot of sense. Snyder’s script brings the movie down, but his directing and eye for good action and visuals save this movie from being a letdown. 

Final score: 3.5/5