Director Zack Snyder continues to make 2021 the year for his renewal as he follows the success of the Snyder Cut with a lively, blood-soaked return to the genre that started it all for him with Army of the Dead.
As someone who still loves watching Snyder’s directorial debut, his Dawn of the Dead remake, all these years later, it was refreshing to hear that he was returning to the world of zombies. Since his debut, he hasn’t touched the undead and has, for better or worse, showed himself to be dedicated to seeing his vision through and not playing it safe. He certainly doesn’t play it safe with with Army of the Dead, as Snyder creates a new kind of zombie world and lore.
The film could’ve easily had its team of gun-toting mercs mow down a bunch of generic shambler zombies mixed in with some fast-moving sprinters, instead, it does so much more with its zombie-infested Las Vegas setting. The way the film uses its “patient zero” zombie is so innovative, as his journey into Vegas creates a zombie evolution full of rich lore. There’s a zombie hierarchy that not only rules over the millions of zombies with a decrepit fist, but also plays God in deciding who becomes zombie chow and who joins their ever-growing army. There’s a zombified tiger roaming the Vegas outskirts in hunt for its next prey and zombified horses for zombie humans to ride into battle. Slow, shambling zombies actually have hibernation patterns and there are even some mysterious robot zombies walking around. There’s so much intriguing lore built around these zombies that makes them more than just another flesh-eating horde and it makes that prequel series Snyder’s making next all that more compelling.
Army of the Dead also features some of the most unique-looking zombies yet. Snyder and his team actually utilize purposeful costume design to establish this zombie hierarchy and its oddly effective in creating some standouts amongst the horde. The zombie designs themselves are nice and simple and the zombified animals look rad as hell.
As for the film’s abandoned Vegas location, Snyder makes good use of its bright casino atmosphere for some glorious zombie killing. There’s actually something kind of scary about seeing the usually bumping and colorful Las Vegas be turned into a deserted wasteland and there is at least one incredibly fun sequence of the group killing a bunch of zombies on a brightly lit casino floor. Sure, there could’ve been a little more fun casino floor killing with poker chips flying everywhere, but the deserted Vegas is actually kind of cool and there’s still plenty of glorious blood splatter.
The action Army of the Dead provides holds nothing back in delivering that good old zombie gore and the opening sequence is something to be treasured. There’s plenty of gut-spilling, bone-breaking, and head-blasting zombie killing to go around and even though the kills and weapon variety could’ve been more creative given the luxurious location they’re in, it’s hard to blame the crew for sticking to guns because these zombies are pretty tough. Some are so fast they can dodge bullets with ease and that patient zero zombie is truly no joke. Army of the Dead’s undead are so unpredictable and wild that the action never gets too old, even over the course of the film lengthy runtime, and delivers heart-pounding fun between the large ensemble’s lovable chemistry.
Amongst the entire cast, no one feels like dead weight and there are plenty of strong standouts outside of Dave Batista leading the charge. The inexperience and cowardice of the team’s safecracker Dieter (Matthias Schweighofer) is always hilarious and his interactions with the team’s buzzsaw-loving merc, Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), are great. It’s fun to see these characters have fun with what they’re doing and not take their Vegas heist mission for millions too seriously. Vanderohe using zombies to trigger the vault’s booby traps is awesome and even his conspiracy theories about their mission feel a little believable and keep you guessing. Even just watching Guzman (Raul Castillo) snap a selfie for his followers is great. It’s easy for some actors in this big ensemble cast to get lost in the shuffle, but Snyder does a great job managing it and giving everyone a memorable moment or two. Frankly, with how Snyder manages the setting, zombies, and large cast of characters, Capcom needs to call him to helm a Dead Rising movie ASAP.
The only area where Army of the Dead falls flat is in its dramatic department. It doesn’t give its characters much depth and it’s a huge missed opportunity not to delve into survivor’s trauma. We rarely ever get to see what people are like after surviving a zombie apocalypse like the one in the opening credits, but here, there could’ve been more moments of these characters opening up about surviving. There are these interesting flashes in the opening sequence of some of the characters holding up family photos that looked like they were showing what they lost. It’s perfectly sad and intriguing, but outside of Batista’s Scott, we never get much time to delve into this aspect. Even what they have with Scott and his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) isn’t all that strong, although Batista puts in a surprising good dramatic performance, and it would’ve been nice to care about these characters past their likeable chemistry. It also feels like the story begins to peter out at the start of its third act and it’s in big part to these characters being nothing more than a good time.
Army of the Dead continues Snyder’s efforts to reclaim his vision as he delivers a grand bloodbath of zombie killing filled with a delightful ensemble and an innovative treatment of zombies that builds incredibly intriguing lore that makes you desperately want to see more.
