Army of the Dead

Starring: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Omari Hardwick, Theo Rossi, Matthew Schweighofer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notario, Raul Castillo, Human Qureshi
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Horror
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A group of mercenaries infiltrates the Las Vegas quarantine zone to pull of a daring heist, yet their backers neglected to tell them the full story of the mission.

Review:

Tim: I have to say, I mostly like Zack Snyder as a director (except for whatever the heck he did with Sucker Punch. I was a big fan of his first zombie film, 2004's Dawn of the Dead. It was fun to see him return to the genre and while this movie isn't nearly as good as his previous one, it's still a serviceable movie. It's fairly entertaining, has a few intense sequences, and for the most part, works. I wouldn't say this in the upper echelon of the zombie genre, but it's a worthwhile entry.

One of the strengths of the script is that this isn't just a "normal" zombie movie, it's a heist movie set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Combining genres like that is legitimately fun. The movie works both as a heist film and a zombie movie and the mashing of those two genres works well. The best elements of both are amplified by the story. It was fun to see a film that felt familiar and yet also felt somewhat unique, at least on the surface. The reality is that when you dive beneath the slick outer layer, so much of this film does feel familiar. It doesn't add a whole lot that we haven't seen before. There's some interesting subplots involving the zombies that felt like it offered something new, but it's relegated to the sidelines, never the main plot.

The cast was decent. I like Dave Bautista, but I do think he tends to think he's a better actor than he actually is. He's much better in a supporting role. He makes an okay leading man, but that is more for his physicality than his acting talent. He looks incredible and is believable in this role, but I wouldn't say his performance elevated the material. The movie would always be held back at some point because of Bautista. Bautista is likeable enough and he's fun to watch, but he's not going to build an emotional connection between his character and the audience. I liked seeing Theo Rossi here- he was fantastic in Luke Cage, although he's a bit under-leveraged here. I always love seeing Hiroyuki Sanada and while he made the movie better, his role is too small to make a very big impact. I'm a huge fan of Garret Dillahunt from his Fear the Walking Dead days, but like Rossi, he's too talented for this kind of role. Ana de la Requera did nothing for me. It felt like a dozen actresses could have done what she did, or better. Ella Purnell had a few nice moments. Her character wasn't well-written, but she was effective enough. Omari Hardwick was solid, if a bit forgettable.

I also have to give Tig Notario a ton of credit. She was in a bad spot- she was brought in after the conclusion of filming to replace an actor who'd been accused of sexual harassment. This was 100% the right move and I applaud Netflix and the filmmakers for removing that actor. Notario was brought in and while a lot of money was spent to digitally insert her into the movie, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented actual reshoots from happening. This is obvious throughout the movie, so Notario's presence is a bit jarring when it's so obvious she wasn't exactly there. However, the movie comes out of this benefiting more than hurting- I'm glad that actor was replaced and if it makes the movie look a little less realistic, that's fine with me. It helps that Notario gives a wonderful performance in extraordinarily challenging circumstances.

While there are moments throughout this film that really work, it also suffers from many of the familiar flaws from this kind of film. There's not nearly enough nuance here. The bad guys routinely act badly, even when it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. They oftentimes go out of their way to be "bad" for the set up of watching them die later. It's annoying how simplistic this movie treated many of its characters. There's simply too many gaps in logic throughout the film. I still don't buy much of the nuclear strike parts of the story. Snyder had a hand in this, so he's obviously responsible.

When it comes down to it, Army of the Dead is a good movie, but never more than that. Its strengths are balanced out by far too many flaws. It'll never be a classic in the genre. However, if you're looking for a fairly entertaining movie that won't required too much, this film works in that regard. I enjoyed watching it, I had fun with it, but I'll soon forget nearly all of it. Snyder has proven he can do better than this, so there's some disappointment in that. However, this is a good movie and that's worth celebrating.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Dawn of the Dead, Stuber