Army of the Dead

While not phenomenal, "Army of the Dead" is a very flawed but enjoyable film that starts off a new era of Zack Snyder with a noticeable kick.

For almost a decade, director Zack Snyder has been synonymous for one thing: DC superhero films. As the creative force behind Warner Bros.’ attempt at a cinematic universe, what we got from Snyder as a result is such a well-known, intriguing mess, both onscreen and behind the scenes, that any discussion of it in this review would sound redundant. The man got his four hour cut of Justice League to be released worldwide after turning a meme into a wild reality. There’s even a black and white version of his cut! There’s not much more that needs to be said of his notorious trilogy of superhero films. After all that he’s been through, it’s no surprise that the start of a new chapter of his filmography would harken back to the one that started it all.

In 2004, Zack Snyder started his career with a remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Since then, he’s only had one original project under his belt: the infamous Sucker Punch from 2011. That has now changed with Army of the Dead. In hopes of kicking off a new franchise, Snyder has teamed up with Netflix to bring his second original project to life. With no ties to his Romero remake, Army of the Dead seems like the best of both worlds for Snyder: a gun-toting, bombastic zombie heist film led by Dave Bautista. With a prequel and anime series already set to release in the next year, all that’s left to do is see what Army of the Dead is all about.

The film begins with a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, showing the events preceding it as well as showing the events that ultimately lead to the containment of the city itself. We follow Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a veteran who led a group of mercenaries at the height of the zombie outbreak. A wealthy man (Hiroyuki Sanada) offers him the job of a lifetime: steal two-hundred million dollars from an abandoned Vegas casino before the government nukes the area. With fifty of that two-hundred being put aside for Scott and his crew, he assembles the remains of his old crew as well as some new faces who will help them navigate Vegas, open the safe, etc. However, things are unsurprisingly more complicated than that as their heist in Vegas leads them to discover a group of intelligent zombies who do more than eat human flesh.

While the film’s cold open is a bit jarring, the world’s version of zombies and history surrounding the fall of Vegas feels like it could bear fruit if expanded upon. It’s enjoyable to watch the silent introduction of our veteran mercenaries, leading to genuinely interesting moments when the crew begins to form as well as when internal conflicts begin to surface. The film’s a bit slow in the beginning but every crew member feels like they have a purpose initially. It’s just a shame that a lot of that potential ultimately leads to nothing, resulting in one-dimensional characters that show seeds of development but are either forced into the film or not given enough time to grow throughout the film’s two and a half hour runtime. Thankfully though, some of that is curbed by some fun action, gruesome gore, and the occasional joke that works. 

Sadly though, the film’s issues don’t stop there. While the film’s intelligent zombies are fun and unique to a degree, the film does very little to explain the origins of “patient zero” as well as explain certain surprises that are revealed as the film progresses. From an odd visual flair that each zombie has to a hierarchy with cult undertones, there are intricacies to these zombies that feel frustratingly left open, almost as if Snyder is nudging you to the upcoming prequels for a chance to learn more. Regardless, it feels like bait in a film that definitely has more than enough time to explain their main antagonists. 

Even with the one-dimensional characters and zombie bait, I don’t find any of that nowhere near as egregious as its ending. While the film certainly could’ve been cut down to two hours, the two hours in the final cut were interesting and fun enough that I didn’t regret the experience. It was the last thirty minutes that genuinely angered me, resulting in a finale that feels extremely stupid as well as completely failing on an emotional level. If a certain subplot was cut out entirely, Army of the Dead could’ve had a tighter ending that didn’t feel like watching intuitive characters lose their intelligence all of a sudden for the sake of cheap tension. It’s difficult to be excited for possible sequels if the first can’t even end without feeling bloated and messy. 

Now with all that said, it might be surprising to hear that I don’t hate this film. Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead is a very flawed but enjoyable film that is honestly more entertaining (and bearable) than his last decade of films. The action is fun, the cast does a good job with what they’re given, the gore is just the right amount for a zombie movie, and its two-plus hour runtime only feels really slow when it gets to the messy finale. Even Snyder’s first attempt at being the cinematographer is not horrible although it does look like Man of Steel lite pretty much the entire time. The film isn’t that good but there are definitely worse films in the subgenre. While I do think the film isn’t worth a rewatch, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead is entertaining enough for any zombie fans or fans of the director who have been waiting for him to leave “superhero jail” for far too long.