Bullet Points: Army of the Dead
First came the Night of, then came the Dawn, then came its remake and now the Army of the Dead has arrived.
After spending over a decade in limbo, Zack Snyder’s sprinting, “smart zombie”-filled sequel finally hits the big screen. However, while the heist/horror/action hybrid delivers to a degree, it’s still not as much as I hoped. After two and a half hours, I feel like I should have walked away worn out, not underserved.
While the complications brought about by the crew came across as rather predictable, (especially in the case of Bautista’s character’s daughter) the walled-off kingdom of the zombies, and how they play into creating hurdles for the heist, more than makes up for it. The dynamics of the living dead here are engaging and original, as far as what I’ve seen. The zombie sub-genre might be played out in many people’s minds, but there’s plenty “new” here to play with.
When it comes to action, expect quality, not quantity. When the times come, the gore effects splashing off the undead hordes Bautista and Co. cut down is impressive and, on a few occasions, even come close to exhilarating. Still, even in a film of this runtime, these moments are few and far between.
Despite being marketed around Bautista, the script spreads things around with nearly every member of the crew getting a surprising amount of screen time. However, this can help and hurt as the plotting gets scattershot and the story seems to split from him too much until the third act. If more time was spent with him and his journey throughout, the more emotional moments would hit home far harder.
- Third Time, Not Quite So Charming: Coming after an explosive prologue, the credits sequence kicks things off with a tongue-in-cheek attack montage set to a medley of Vegas themed musical cues. However, such a thing might be more exciting if the Zombieland “franchise” hadn’t already done it better… twice.
- The Revenant: Despite being a standout in the trailer, Siegfried and Roy’s zombified white tighter is underutilized, but does turn up for an elongated, brutal attack bit that called to mind Leo’s experience in the woods back in 2015.
- Late Game Addition: Tig Notaro’s much talked about inclusion returned a surprising standout. Landing most all of her moments with panache, she steals every scene she’s in. While on the effects front, those used to place her in the fray are nigh unnoticeable most of the time as Snyder (as director and cinematographer here) takes full advantage of his focus manipulating, cinematographic style.
- Final Thoughts: If you’re a fan of the genre, Army of the Dead is worth a watch. Still, I expected gnashing chomps, but left with but a bite or two on me.
