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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