Genre : Horror; Action
Director : Zack Snyder
Platform : Netflix
Army of the Dead directed by Zack Snyder is a zombie-cum-heist movie. Amid a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, Dave Bautista(playing Scott) is given an opportunity to enter into the contaminated area and break into a vault holding around $20 million. He prepares a team and ventures into the deadly place with the zombie army waiting for them.
Every year we see at least a couple of zombie movies being released, which creates a pressure on the upcoming movies to do something different. Train to Busan(2016) brought a fresh perspective to this genre by setting up the plot inside a train. #Alive(2020), again a Korean Zombie movie, constructed the story inside a flat. This way Army of the Dead is on the right track to introduce a heist element into the zombie genre. But will it be able to make an impact? Let’s find out.
The movie is colourful throughout. We witness a good contrast of colourful bombs, lights and dresses with the dark, unsettling zombies. Moreover, we get to see stunning aerial view of the dead city of Las Vegas. There is no scarcity of slow motion shots, gruesome killings and clever action sequences. My favourite action scene is when Chambers artfully kills the hibernating zombies. It is such a well-executed scene.
While it is exhilarating to watch these sequences, the screen time of the movie is a bit questionable. The first half an hour is just used up to showcase the outbreak, to introduce the individual characters and formation of the heist team. I would have no problem with the screen time if the movie had offered me with well developed character stories, which it didn’t.
The assembled cast consists of people from French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Indian(Human Qureshi makes her Hollywood debut!) origin. It is an amazing experience to see this diverse cast together. However, this amazingness fades away when they don’t make much impact to the story. The most unconvincing character I found was of Kate, who was the daughter of Scott. She is given a story, still her character seems bland. Her intentions are highly unconvincing throughout the movie. Moreover, I still don’t understand why Scott agreed to take up the mission. Because of his past, his nightmares. His decisions also feel inauthentic.
The highlights of the movie are Tig Notaro(playing Peters) and Matthias Schweighöfer(playing Dieter). When David asks Tig to join him in the team without telling her anything about the mission. With a cigar in her mouth, Tig agrees to take the offer. She says, “Why would I want to know the risks. Two million dollars? That’s a lot of cash.”
Then there is, Matthias playing the role a lock picker who applies chap-stick when the whole team is discussing important details about the mission. He is the odd one out in team as he is the only one who is scared of zombies. In short, he is hilarious and brings glimmer of humour to this dark zombie world.
Army of the Dead takes the gory scenes to extreme level. The scenes are horrific, disturbing and perfect. It features a zombie tiger which is another highlight. Though zombies in this movie are said to be smarter, but all they do is screeching and screaming.
Not much explanation is given about why we see two lights(probably spaceships) in the sky or why some zombies emit blue light from their eyes. But it’s fine, we can deal with it. In conclusion, it is fun, entertaining, extremely gory movie with a lot less emotions.
Also read:
#Alive Review: #Alive is a funny, character driven Zombie movie with a fresh setting
The Mist 2017 Review: Intriguing and Captivating
Run 2020: 6 Movies You Need To Watch, If You Like Run(2020)
An Indian reviewer who writes about horror and thriller movies/series. If not movies, he likes to pick up a mystery book to read. Some of his favourite movies/series include Stranger Things, Elite (S1-3), Train to Busan, Andhadhun, Strangers: Prey at Night.