Army of the Dead
Army of the Dead
Starring Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Directed by Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder is best known for directing epic films like "300," "Watchmen," and "Justice League: The Snyder Cut," but his first directed film was 2004's "Dawn of the Dead," a reimagining of the George A. Romero classic which saw the zombies as terrifying, fast-running killing machines which were different than Romero's slow, shambling undead. It took seventeen years but he finally returned to his zombie roots with "Army of the Dead," a film that highlights his epic style and knack for filming intense action scenes, but lacking character development and serving as an almost typical zombie movie despite its fascinating differences.
After a military envoy is involved in an accident near Las Vegas, the secret cargo load - a fierce zombie known as Zeus - escapes and turns the army into his living undead, and they set their sights for Sin City. Soon the bustling town is overrun with fast-running zombies, and the government walls in the city to keep the virus contained, and those involved in the plan go back to living their ordinary lives, including Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), who led the effort and is now flipping burgers at a local burger joint. He's approached by a rich man who will offer Scott and a team he forms $50 million dollars to go back into Vegas before the government nukes it to find a vault with a $200 million dollar payload inside. Scott finds his old partnersVanderohe (Omari Hardwick) and Maria (Ana de la Reguera) who both agree on the mission, and then compiles the rest of his crew, including his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), who wants to go in to find her missing friend.
After entering the walled city, they come across zombies that are more tactical and dangerous than they once imagined - along with a zombified tiger - that are being led by Zeus and his Queen, who is with zombie child. As the group embarks on their heist caper, they don't only have to watch out for the undead - but those in their own ranks who have ulterior motives and who may not want everyone to make it out alive.
"Army of the Dead" effortlessly blends the heist movie with the zombie movie in almost perfect fashion, even if it follows the traditional tropes that plague both genres. As with your typical heist movie, there's the montage where Scott gathers the best of the best - the best code breaker, the best sniper, the best pilot, the best friend's wedding - to perform the task that's seemingly (and logically) impossible. This only allows the supporting cast members to be the caricatures they're supposed to be. The safe cracker has never fired a gun before. The famous viral video star is an expert marksman but nothing else. The shade-wearing sidekick of the main boss has shady motives. Even Scott's two main ride-or-dies don't offer anything more than what they're token assignments were. For a two and a half hour epic, there's very little time devoted to characterization. Even Dave Bautista isn't given much more than the generic hero leader - protecting his daughter, getting the job done, be a good soldier.
On the zombie end, Snyder again incorporates his own ideas to what is typically known as a "dead" genre. Yes, there's a slew of characters who are only there to serve as zombie meat, but the zombies themselves seem to have more character than the living. These zombies are intelligent, they react to a hierarchy, and they even get involved in trades with humans. To the outside world, Las Vegas is a prison, but to these zombies, its their palace, and its ruled by a zombie King and Queen who rule with an iron fist and who's expecting their own zombie baby (we have no idea how this happens, but we just go along with it). These zombies run at rapid speed and will kill you in an instant, and the best part of it is that there's also a zombie tiger, which is just plain cool. So here, Snyder again paves his own path but also maintains the traditional trope of picking off supporting characters one-by-one.
The effects are pure Snyder, with a CGI tiger and horse and seas of the quick and the undead, with the Vegas landscape serving as a post-apocalyptic world. The action, again, is all Snyder, with fast cuts, intense camera work, and soaring music that gets the adrenaline pumping. What's fascinating is that the film is two and a half hours, but it surprisingly doesn't feel that way, and that's because you got two intriguing themes going on at the same time, and even if its not delivered by the most interesting cast of characters, it still keeps your attention and doesn't offer much in the way of downtime.
Returning to his zombie roots that made him a cultural icon, Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead" is filled with exciting, quick zombies set against a typical heist caper filled with zombie-food characters who aren't very developed, but don't need to be.
The Score: B+
After a military envoy is involved in an accident near Las Vegas, the secret cargo load - a fierce zombie known as Zeus - escapes and turns the army into his living undead, and they set their sights for Sin City. Soon the bustling town is overrun with fast-running zombies, and the government walls in the city to keep the virus contained, and those involved in the plan go back to living their ordinary lives, including Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), who led the effort and is now flipping burgers at a local burger joint. He's approached by a rich man who will offer Scott and a team he forms $50 million dollars to go back into Vegas before the government nukes it to find a vault with a $200 million dollar payload inside. Scott finds his old partnersVanderohe (Omari Hardwick) and Maria (Ana de la Reguera) who both agree on the mission, and then compiles the rest of his crew, including his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), who wants to go in to find her missing friend.
After entering the walled city, they come across zombies that are more tactical and dangerous than they once imagined - along with a zombified tiger - that are being led by Zeus and his Queen, who is with zombie child. As the group embarks on their heist caper, they don't only have to watch out for the undead - but those in their own ranks who have ulterior motives and who may not want everyone to make it out alive.
"Army of the Dead" effortlessly blends the heist movie with the zombie movie in almost perfect fashion, even if it follows the traditional tropes that plague both genres. As with your typical heist movie, there's the montage where Scott gathers the best of the best - the best code breaker, the best sniper, the best pilot, the best friend's wedding - to perform the task that's seemingly (and logically) impossible. This only allows the supporting cast members to be the caricatures they're supposed to be. The safe cracker has never fired a gun before. The famous viral video star is an expert marksman but nothing else. The shade-wearing sidekick of the main boss has shady motives. Even Scott's two main ride-or-dies don't offer anything more than what they're token assignments were. For a two and a half hour epic, there's very little time devoted to characterization. Even Dave Bautista isn't given much more than the generic hero leader - protecting his daughter, getting the job done, be a good soldier.
On the zombie end, Snyder again incorporates his own ideas to what is typically known as a "dead" genre. Yes, there's a slew of characters who are only there to serve as zombie meat, but the zombies themselves seem to have more character than the living. These zombies are intelligent, they react to a hierarchy, and they even get involved in trades with humans. To the outside world, Las Vegas is a prison, but to these zombies, its their palace, and its ruled by a zombie King and Queen who rule with an iron fist and who's expecting their own zombie baby (we have no idea how this happens, but we just go along with it). These zombies run at rapid speed and will kill you in an instant, and the best part of it is that there's also a zombie tiger, which is just plain cool. So here, Snyder again paves his own path but also maintains the traditional trope of picking off supporting characters one-by-one.
The effects are pure Snyder, with a CGI tiger and horse and seas of the quick and the undead, with the Vegas landscape serving as a post-apocalyptic world. The action, again, is all Snyder, with fast cuts, intense camera work, and soaring music that gets the adrenaline pumping. What's fascinating is that the film is two and a half hours, but it surprisingly doesn't feel that way, and that's because you got two intriguing themes going on at the same time, and even if its not delivered by the most interesting cast of characters, it still keeps your attention and doesn't offer much in the way of downtime.
Returning to his zombie roots that made him a cultural icon, Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead" is filled with exciting, quick zombies set against a typical heist caper filled with zombie-food characters who aren't very developed, but don't need to be.
The Score: B+
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