Army Of The Dead Review: Netflix and Snyder’s Latest Is A Pure Horse Manure
Movie title: Army of the Dead
Movie description: After a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas (which by the way started under completely moronic circumstances), a billionaire Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) hires Scott Ward (Bautista) to gather a crew and execute an almost impossible task - venture into zombie-infested Las Vegas and steal $200 million from casino vault before US army nukes the entire city.
Genre: Horror, Action
Summary
Devoid of any humor, logic, or tension, Army of the Dead is a disaster on almost every level – from Snyder’s direction, tempo, story, script, paper-thin and unlikeable characters, mediocre acting, to Snyder’s laughable tricks like slow motions, and shitty blurry camera effects. On top of that, even action sequences aren’t that well-executed and the movie is boring as hell. Avoid at all costs.
Director: Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300, Daws of the Dead, BvS, Justice League, Man of Steel)
Cast: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Omari Hardwick, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo
Year: 2021
Before switching to comic book adaptations (Watchmen, BvS, Justice League, Man of Steel), Zack Snyder made his directorial debut back in 2004 with a surprisingly successful remake of George Romero’s zombie feature Dawn Of The Dead. Seventeen years later Snyder returned to the genre so it was reasonable to expect one more solid entry in the genre. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Army of The Dead is not only a really terrible zombie movie and the worst movie of Snyder’s career but also one of the worst movies I watched in my life. Pure horse manure.
After a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas (which by the way started under completely moronic circumstances), a billionaire Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) hires Scott Ward (Bautista) to gather a crew and execute an almost impossible task – venture into zombie-infested Las Vegas and steal $200 million from casino vault before US army nukes the entire city.
It’s evident that Snyder and his crew were, besides other zombie movies, inspired by Aliens, Ocean’s 11, and Escape From New York. But it wouldn’t be fair to say that this movie doesn’t bring anything new – unfortunately, Snyder’s additions to the genre are completely moronic. Also, both Aliens and Ocean’s 11 had well-written characters brought to life by a talented cast. The same can’t be said about Army of the Dead as almost all characters are paper-thin and unlikeable played by not very talented actors without much (any) charisma.
Almost nothing works and makes sense in this overlong and boring zombie feature that takes itself a little too seriously. Written by Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Joby Harold, Army of the Dead is such a stupid movie that it’s hard to believe it was written by an intelligent grown-up. The script feels like written by 10-year-olds and I think even they would come with a better story than Snyder and co. But I would need to go heavily into spoilers territory to explain why watching this “movie” makes you feel a lot dumber after end credits rolls. Let’s just say that Snyder and co thought it would be great to put intelligent alpha zombies in the movie that can think, communicate, be sad, angry, cry, and hell, even get pregnant. Oh, and if that isn’t enough let’s throw a tiger zombie into the mix.
Devoid of any humor, logic, or tension, Army of the Dead is a disaster on almost every level – from Snyder’s direction, tempo, story, script, paper-thin and unlikeable characters, mediocre acting, to Snyder’s laughable tricks like slow motions, and shitty blurry camera effects. On top of that, even action sequences aren’t that well-executed and the movie is boring as hell. Avoid at all costs.
RELATED:
- 16 Most Influential Horror Movies: Horror Films That Changed the Genre
- Why Is Justice League The Worst DCEU Movie?