Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder's new zombie heist thriller — out Friday, May 21 on Netflix — fails to deliver on every aspect of that description, except that it's unmistakably a Snyder film. Army of the Dead runs for about 138 minutes minus the credits (that's a lot), with Snyder once again showing that he's unable to trim his films down to size, on the back of a four-hour Justice League in March. Army of the Dead earns its 18+ rating with copious amounts of blood, gore and human entrails — Snyder loves a hard-R rating — but it's all gratuitous, and the movie is empty outside of it. And though there's neon oozing out of its posters, Army of the Dead is drab, dull and devoid of any fun. It's a Snyder trademark at this point, but it's still disappointing to see that he has no interest in changing his voice or visual style.
ARMY OF THE DEAD TRAILER REVIEW
Army of the Dead is essentially a mix of a few ideas - heist in a post-apocalypse space, a zombie-ruled Sin City (just near which are quarantine camps) and a reunion of a father and daughter. The end result, however, is a combination of blood bath, blazing guns, screeching sounds, a lot of growls and roars.
First things first - the expectations from Snyder after Justice League: The Snyder Cut are high, higher than the helicopter takes flight in his latest offering Army of the Dead on Netflix. The film boasts of a diverse cast - Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raul Castillo, Garret Dillahunt, and Bollywood's own, Huma Qureshi.
Over a cover version (of course) of “Viva Las Vegas,” Snyder unfolds a clever montage of the carnage that pretty quickly happened next. Topless zombie showgirls devour a man in a bathtub; zombies turn casino floors into their playgrounds; the military comes in to get out as many survivors as possible before the entire city is walled off. The credits also introduce us to our major players, including Ward (Dave Bautista), Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick)—three soldiers with dead aim and a whole lot of luck. Although, after escaping the city, they’ve returned to blue-collar jobs while the government debates what to do now that a zombie king is running a casino called Olympus.
That’s why Ward listens when a wealthy man named Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) comes to him with a proposal. There’s $200 million in a vault under Las Vegas. Get a team together, get the cash, and get out before the government nukes the entire city and they can keep $50 million of it. Ward reunites with Cruz and Vanderohe, and the trio then puts together their own ‘Ward’s 11,’ including an expert safecracker (Matthias Schweighöfer), a viral personality (Raúl Castillo), a helicopter pilot (Tig Notaro, seamlessly replacing Chris D’Elia, who shot the film and then was replaced with reshoots), one of Tanaka’s men (Garret Dillahunt), and eventually even his own daughter Kate (Ella Purnell). Other faces will pop up, including a scene-stealing coyote (Nora Arnezeder) and an abusive officer (Theo Rossi). Most of them will end up zombie food. (That’s only a spoiler if you’ve never seen a zombie movie. Sorry.)
Despite its remarkable length, “Army of the Dead” is a pretty deliberate, lean movie that effectively blends the heist genre with the zombie one. Snyder’s co-written script has just enough new in both departments, although I wish there was a bit more to the heist itself than the direct line from A to Z(ombie) and trying to get back to A again. It sometimes feels like the plot of “Army of the Dead” is merely a skeleton on which to hang the action scenes instead of something inherently clever on its own. I kept waiting for a twist or a surprise that never really came.
With Army of the Dead, Snyder returns to its roots and love for zombies and that's perhaps the only reason why you might want to watch the film. What perhaps looked good on the paper didn't translate that well on the screen unless you are in only for a zombie experience.
Between Justice League, where Snyder was shackled, and Army of the Dead on Netflix, we now have two extremes. And it's clear that neither produce great results. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have some degree of handcuffs next time.
Army of the Dead is out Friday on Netflix worldwide.
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