Odds Are 50-50 That You’ll Like ‘Army of the Dead’

“Army of the Dead” is a standard Zack Snyder affair. It’s loud, unsubtle, bloated, and includes characters that are paper thin, even for a zombie movie. At the same time, there are interesting action scenes and arresting concepts (zombie tiger) roaming around this flick. Given all this, “Dead” is a solid actioner mixed with a mediocre zombie movie and an uninteresting heist flick. 

The film opens on a military convoy carrying unknown cargo out of Area 51. The container is accidentally damaged, releasing a powerful and speedy zombie who quickly dispatches the military personnel and sets his sights on Las Vegas. 

Through a humorous, though not truly funny, montage set to “Viva Las Vegas,” we see Sin City fall to a growing horde of zombies. Topless showgirls devour lecherous men, bachelorette parties go wild for human flesh, and an Elvis impersonator is zombie-fied. Simultaneously, we’re introduced to the main protagonists, Ward (Dave Bautista), Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick). The group form a small band of zombie hunters, and manage to save a bunch of people before Vegas is walled off from the rest of the United States. 

Here’s where the story kicks in. A few years later, Ward is approached by a shady businessman with a job offer. There’s $200 million in a Vegas vault, just waiting for someone to sneak in and take it. There’s just one problem, the government is going to nuke Vegas in 48 hours. Reluctantly, Ward gets the old gang back together and adds some new faces, including a social media star (Raúl Castillo), a safecracker (Matthias Schweighöfer), and a helicopter pilot (Tig Notaro), among others. Then they all head into a literal zombie-land.

What I’ve always found interesting about Snyder is his world building. It’s on full display here, as the zombies aren’t representative of your average walking-corpse movie. Snyder’s zombies have an entire culture. In fact, while watching “Dead” I was left with the impression that Snyder found his zombies more interesting than the main characters. 

There are also strong action scenes throughout, most of which avoid Snyder’s trademark slow-mo. Nonetheless, “Dead” falls dangerously close to what I call “headshot boredom” — essentially, when every character is an amazing shot, the action becomes dull. (How many times can you watch a zombie fall down backwards?)

So what doesn’t work? “Dead” includes clunky social commentary. There are parallels with immigrants crossing the United States’ southern border, detainment camps, abusive law enforcement figures, and spectacle as politics. None of these themes or topics are examined in any meaningful way, however.

Additionally, the characters are, for the most part, two dimensional, with the worst offender being the lead. Bautista does as much as he can with Ward, but he’s just a boring character, with an uninspired backstory. Hardwick’s Vanderohe and de la Reguera’s Cruz also barely register on screen. The same can’t be said for Notaro, who plays the oddball pilot with disarming charm, and Nora Arnezeder, the coyote hired to get the group in and out of the zombie city. (I’d go as far as to say Arnezeder’s coyote is the most interesting character in the film.)

My biggest complaint about Snyder is that he’s unable to streamline his projects. Like his other movies, “Dead” is overstuffed and creaks under the weight of the narrative. For example, this movie would have worked just as well if Ward wasn’t a well-known zombie hunter with a Vegas backstory. There is also a prominent secondary story that could have been cut. 

At this point in Snyder’s career, I suspect that moviegoers are familiar enough with his work to know what type of film the director makes. They are always a mixed bag. If you’re craving a summer blockbuster, take a gamble. — David (@itsmedavidcross)