Army of the Dead

 

If there's one thing that won't ever die, it's the zombie movie genre (no pun intended?). Still to this day, we get multiple a year and it's always interesting to see what ways they could possibly make this genre any different than the dozens of other ones released in the last few years. Army of the Dead does present an interesting twist in the genre, at least enough to make me interested in it, and that is a heist movie in a zombie-infested Las Vegas. The cast features some familiar famous faces, none that I'd consider A-listers outside of maybe Dave Bautista. Add Zack Snyder as director and you got yourself a zombie movie with some potential to be pretty dang good. Can it add something new to the zombie genre, or at least make for a fun time?

With all the factors I mentioned before, this did have some potential to be a good time. As I watched the movie I did realize something pretty quickly, this movie is pretty boring for an action-packed zombie movie. Most of the characters aren't very interesting and the few that are weren't enough to keep me invested in the story of the movie. Most of the characters aren't given much outside of maybe Bautista's character Scott and his daughter Kate played by Ella Purnell. The story focuses on their relationship and how they had a falling out after the zombie invasion started. After they escape Vegas, Scott becomes a cook and Kate joins a shelter to help people struggling after the zombie attacks. A businessman comes to Scott for a special mission: to assemble a team and re-enter Vegas to crack open a safe and steal millions of dollars. Scott agrees as this money is enough to get him out of his terrible job and help his daughter. Finding a crew isn't too hard with the amount of money up for grabs. So with the crew and the (pretty flimsy) plan, the mission is set to start as the clock ticks before the city of Vegas is nuked in a few days to wipe out the zombies contained. 

As I said before, I found the movie overall surprisingly boring despite all the big action moments and zombies. I'll admit I'm not crazy about the zombie genre at the moment, as I feel like it needs some time to rest. That's not to say I don't welcome a good idea if it comes, and while this one did seem promising, it ultimately came up short. The main problem for me was the characters and the fact that I didn't really care about most of them. While the action can be pretty fun at times, it feels less impactful when it's a bunch of characters I feel nothing for in danger. The motivations for most of the characters seem vague at times, most just seem like they want the money, which I guess is fair enough but maybe it would have been a little more interesting to go a bit further than that. There are a few moments where you get a glimpse at some backstory or motivations for characters, but it never feels like it's enough to really change how I felt about them. On top of that, you get the big baddie, who's the leader of the zombies and can create alpha zombies that are smarter and faster than the regular rotting corpses. Again, you never really get any kinda story to him outside of a few glimpses here and there. 

There are a few things I did like about the movie. The opening sequence was very well done to introduce you to the world and to the characters at first. There's this nice little musical number that sets up the chaos of the zombies in Vegas and how dangerous it is to enter the city. It does a good job at establishing the world and how dark and violent it is. The world and setting, in general, are really good and excited me for the possible set-pieces and story. The action is another good part when it does pick up about 45-50 minutes after all the setup, the movie does take a while to build up to it. The special effects and visuals were overall pretty good, but I guess that's usually Snyder's stronger attributes in movie making. All that doesn't make up for the weak story and characters presented here, and the movie also just feels a bit too long, which is another thing Snyder is known for. 

Everything put together leads to a pretty watchable movie, but one that didn't leave a lasting impression on me. While the performances, visuals, and action were all good, I think the writing really brought this movie down from what it could have been. To me, action matters more when the characters and motivations are good, or it at least is funny enough to ignore that. This movie didn't really have either of those things, and the humor didn't really hit all that much to me. But if you're just looking for some zombie-killing action with some good visuals, then this movie should be a good time for you. 

Overall Grade: C. Average zombie movie, doesn't add anything to the genre you haven't seen before. The over-the-top action and Vegas setting are enough to keep it from being anything less than a C. Also, my admiration for Dave Bautista probably helps too. 

I'm starting to think maybe Zack Snyder isn't a great director. I don't think I've really loved any of his movies up to this point. While his movies usually have pretty interesting visuals, the dialog and story usually hold the movies back from being better than they could be (Batman V Superman is a perfect example). I did enjoy his take on the Watchmen story though, so there's that. Also please stop making your movies so long. 

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Short Story 1

  No one knows when the storm started because it's been here as long as anyone can remember. The island of Unmei was a beautiful little location with one giant glaring problem, there was no way out. The winds that surround the entire island are so strong, no ship or boat can make it through. Not that anyone has ever tried at this point, besides how difficult it would be just to get close to it, it's basically guaranteed doom if you do get close. 

Mia stared out her window looking past her slight reflection onto the coast of the island where she could see part of the storm. She did this a lot. Her imagination would take her to places beyond the storm, outside of this island that felt like a prison to her. It's probably something a lot of young adults her age do, given the circumstances. With a lust for exploration and adventure and no way to actually do them, imagination is pretty much your only choice. She turns her eyes to her own reflection and sees her tan freckled face and her curly dark hair almost covering her eyes. She looks around the room to look at all her drawings pinned to the walls, all the things she thought could be beyond her island. Lots of maps of what the rest of the world could look like and the exotic locations she dreamed of seeing. "It's almost time," she says to herself looking back one last time at the setting sun about to disappear over the storm around the island. 

A few hours later and the sun was replaced by the moon and colored the sky dark blue. Mia grabbed a bag she had been preparing all week full of supplies that she thought would be enough to survive off of for a few days. On her wooden desk was a letter she had been working on even longer, signed to her parents. Next to the letter was a drawing of the three of them together that a local artist made for them years ago, she folded it and put it in her pocket as her eyes started to get red and fill with tears. She did her best to hold them in, but it wasn't enough to stop them from running down her cheek. Mia wiped her face with a cloth before putting on a dark gray waterproof jacket and throwing her bag over her shoulder. She put her hand on her cold metal doorknob and slowly twisted her wrist, careful to make as little noise as possible. She stuck her face out as she slowly opened the door, making sure no one else was awake. Once this was confirmed she opened the door as much as she needed to fit her small body through. Mia walked slowly as she lifted each foot off the wooden floor with her heavy boots, careful to not make it creak. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to go barefoot, but she decided to keep going. Next came the stairs, as she held the rail and tried to put as little weight as she could into each step downward. With every step, she took a deep breath and looked back up to her parents' door, making sure no one was moving around in there. This caused her to miss one of the steps and bang her foot loudly onto the next one. "Dammit!" she whispered as she stared back at her parents' bedroom. After what felt like an hour of staring and waiting, there was no reaction, and Mia finished her journey downstairs. Before she opened the door to head outside she looked back and whispered, "I'm sorry, this is something I need to do". 

It was a quiet night, as quiet as a night could be on an island surrounded by a neverending storm. The storm was miles off the coast of the island, so it didn't always affect the weather inland, but it could be heard outdoors. The weather could still be sunny and clear or stormy and dark, one positive thing about this whole situation. Well, when your homeland is surrounded by a giant fence of 24/7 hurricane-level winds, you have to take what you can get. "It's the little things that help us get by", words Mia's mother would tell her as a way to try to be positive. Mia's home wasn't too far away from the docks, just a short walk down the road. Her house was pretty isolated from the rest of the town, with no other buildings around for at least a mile. She looked back one last time at her window, the one she would stare out of for way too long. One last goodbye. She remembered all the good times she had in the house, all the great memories with her parents. Then the bad memories slipped in too, which made it a little easier to start walking away again. "It wasn't always great, but I loved the time we spent together," she said to herself not looking back to the house again. She walked through the dirt path leading into the docks.

The docks had this certain smell, like a mixture of fish, wood, and what she imagined a rotting corpse would smell like. Even after countless hours spent here, it was something that still made her sick. She walked near the ocean on a wooden walkway that leads to an abandoned shack that was blocked off. Mia grabbed the fence that was blocking off the entryway and pushed it back. She had made a little hole there where she could fit through, not without a few scrapes along the way. She looked at her arm and saw all the scratches and cuts from doing this fence crawl over and over again. "Looks like one last cut for the collection I guess," she said as she wiped the blood off with her index finger and cleaned it with her mouth. She went around the back of the building where no one could see her, not that anyone would be here at this hour. There she uses a window to get inside the building, inside the building she finds a giant tarp covering a large object floating on the water. She grabs the tarp with both hands and pulls it off, uncovering a decent-sized boat she's been working on for months now. "It's finally time to do this. I really hope this actually works". The boat floated in the building with a large gate separating it from the rest of the ocean. Mia untied the boat's ropes and climbed aboard, grabbing a gas canister along with the rest of her supplies. She made sure the boat's blower was on for a few minutes before starting the boat and turning the ignition on. She then pulled the level by the wheel to set it to forward gear so she could start her journey. The gate was opened and she took off into the vast dark ocean. She took one last look back at the docks before keeping her eyes forward as it went out of view.

A few hours had passed and the sun was just slightly peaking its way out of the horizon, not that Mia could see it past the storm yet. She was getting uncomfortably close to the actual storm now and her heart had been beating like crazy for longer than anyone's heart ever should. The waves had been slowly getting more violent crashing onto the boat and rocking it. She was holding on tighter and tighter to the wheel and the railing as the boat kept rocking violently. The waves were crashing into the boat as the storm grew too close, hitting her face and drenching her clothes. The storm winds were dark and Mia couldn't see past them because of it, as she looked towards it the sky began to get smaller and smaller. Her eyes were burning at this point with all the saltwater that had splashed onto her face. The boat was barely hanging on as it approached the storm just about 100 yards away. The waves were tipping the boat back and forth so violently that Mia was being thrown around the boat as she tried to grab onto anything she could to find balance. The wind was too strong now and the boat was lifted off the ground and flipped upside down, with Mia being flung off the side. Her body crashed into the water painfully and she began to sink into the powerful ocean, even with all her force she couldn't control her movements. The panic in her mind was strong enough to ignore all the pain her body was currently going through with all the thrashing and being thrown against the boat several times left several injuries. Everything around her became black as she held her breath for as long as she could. She closed her burning eyes as the water carried her toward the storm, knowing this was probably the end. It felt like memories were flashing through her mind in fast forward as she held in the last few seconds of air she still had. Then there was just silence and peace. 

Mia slowly opened her eyes as her body floated. It was still dark, but something was different now. Millions of stars surrounded her and she was no longer underwater. As far as she could see just beautiful stars around her with bright colorful planets also sprinkled throughout. She looked back at where she came from and there was a giant planet, she could see the storm that surrounded her home island still. From here though, it looks like the only land on the planet was her home island. Mia felt a rush of many different emotions rising in her. Sadness, joy, and fear all at once, but despite this one thing she felt more than any of those things was something she hadn't felt in a very long time: hope. 

 As tears fell from her eyes she smiled and thought to herself "I made it".

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