THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Zack Snyder made his directorial debut by remaking the zombie classic, Dawn of the Dead in 2004. After a successful career since than, fans wondered when he would make another zombie film. In 2021, the wait had ended with Netflix’s Army of the Dead.
PLOT
The film shows an outbreak that occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada. This happened when the source credited as Zeus, escaped its military transport after a car accident. Unable to eliminate the threat immediately, the government decides to quarantine the city. Casino owner Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) approaches Scott Ward, a man who survived the outbreak, to retrieve $200 million from a vault under the Strip. He will be awarded $50 million if he can succeed within 32 hours before the city is destroyed by a nuclear strike. He recruits allies that have survived the outbreak as he did: Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) and Vanderohe, who were part of his original group, helicopter pilot Marianne Peters, safecracker Ludwig Dieter, sharpshooters Mikey Guzman and Chambers, and the only known associate of Tanaka’s named Martin. Scott is able to get help of his daughter Kate, who works at quarantine camps, to smuggle into the city. She points them to Lily, who is a smuggler familiar with the city. Kate only chooses to join because her friend Geeta (Huma Qureshi) snuck in to crack a slot machine in order to pay her way out of the camp. The last person to join them is Cummings. Lily recruits him because he would be used as a sacrificial trade to enhanced zombies named ‘Alphas’, in exchange for safe passage. The group passes through a building with a hibernating group. Martin gets Chambers killed when she grows suspicion of his presence. When they reach Bly’s casino, they find blueprints of the vault, implying that there was another team before them; Martin denies any knowledge of it. Scott and Kate turn on the power while Peters prepares to their helicopter to later escape from the blast. While Guzman and Vanderohe company Dieter who cracks the vault, Martin and Lily behead Zeus’ Queen. Martin does this because Tanaka wants to make an army out of them. When Zeus finds the Queen’s body, he orders Alphas to attack Bly’s casino. Before the vault is opened, the group watches the news and discovers that they now have only less than two hours to get the money before the strike. When the vault is open, Kate goes to search for Geeta as her father’s distracted. When Scott finally realizes she left, he immediately decides to go after her. When he summons the elevator, Alphas appear and kill Marie. As more keep coming, the group is more concerned about getting out alive than becoming rich. Dieter saves Vanderohe by pushing him into the vault, just as he gets overpowered by Alphas. Martin tries to leave them for dead by locking a gate on them. He thinks he is rich with the Queen’s head, but barely discovers that Lily took it out of the bag and swapped it for an automatic money counter. Upon this discovery, he is than killed by Valentine, a zombie tiger that formerly belonged to Siegfried & Roy. Guzman sacrifices himself by detonating grenades that kill a bunch more zombies, which give Scott and Lily time to get to the roof. Lily also chooses to sacrifice herself when Zeus catches up, giving time for Scott and Peters to leave the building via helicopter. They can’t leave yet because Scott still has to find Kate. His daughter does find Geeta at the Olympus Casino, Zeus’ hideout and kills a zombified Cummings to save her. When her father gets there, he subdues the Alpha by shooting him with a grenade launcher. Right when the three humans board the helicopter, Zeus catches up again and jumps into the helicopter. He breaks Scott’s arm before biting him in the shoulder. Kate gets the beast off him by hitting him with a fire extinguisher. This gives her father a chance to shoot him in the head. The helicopter does avoid the nuclear strike, but it doesn’t avoid them from crashing due to the shockwave. Kate and Scott appear to be the only ones to survive the crash, whereas Peters died from her wounds and Geeta’s body is not found. Scott gives Kate whatever money he had on him, encouraging her to start a new life. Just as she shoots him when he turns, a rescue helicopter passes by. Surprisingly, Vanderohe was able to survive the blast and escape the vault with as much money he can carry. He drives to Utah and rents a private plane to Mexico City. However, the film ends with him discovering that he got bit in the arm, likely before entering the vault.
THOUGHTS
Going into this movie as one who enjoys some zombie action, the only thing I wanted out of it was having a blast. Lucky for me, Snyder gave me just that with what is now his second zombie hit. Since this is not a remake, he gave us what is arguably the most creative film of the genre to be seen. It’s not everyday where you see zombies originate from extraterrestrials. The proof on that goes to three particular scenes: Two probe lights in the opening that disappear in light speed, leaning in to both soldiers talking about Area 51 before the crash. And for a moment, Guzman shot one that had metal skin. I know this’ll likely be explored in a prequel, but the displayed crumbs are shocking to uncover. What makes this interpretation of zombies arguably scarier than the past we’ve seen is the variety that are displayed. The shamblers are the ideal zombies that originate from bitten humans. The big addition to them is that when they hibernate in the dark, they don’t react to nearby movement. Those that melt in the sun and revive momentarily in the rain suffer in a ‘sun coma’. And then there are Zeus’ Alphas, who are self aware of their surroundings, hence being much smarter. The most intriguing thing about the latter is that they can form relationships. Seeing these creatures become like us is truly the stuff that nightmares are made us. The best of this movie’s visual effects besides seeing zoom out shots on the city has to be the presence of Valentine. For someone who watches amc’s The Walking Dead, a zombie tiger never crossed my mind and I was in shock seeing it in full display. And as an animal lover, this is just as terrifying as smart zombies. I kept forgetting about the zombie horse Zeus rode because Valentine was so terrifying to look at. Another great thing about this movie is how we get characters that much proper arcs in comparison to Dawn of the Dead. Our lead Dave Bautista gives what is one of his best performances of his career. As Scott, he showed that no matter how tough you look, it doesn't mean you're not afraid. He presents him as a natural born leader, but is unable to face personal problems. When killing his zombified wife, he didn't know to comfort his daughter. After surviving Vegas from the outbreak, he gets a medal but chooses to step away from the action to live somewhat peacefully. He even chose not to try to make things work with Maria intimately because he doubted it would ever work out. However, it was this heist that made him find redemption by facing these fears. Saving his daughter was his realization that running never helped him out. While he did not get to live to be with this daughter, her well being became more important to him than his own. While Bautista is depicted as the star of this film, that does not mean that the rest of the team Las Vengeance were not as memorable as him. Ella Purnell was another great addition as Scott's daughter Kate. Because of the rift she has with her father, she becomes her polar opposite by actually attempting to confront her problems, while also coming off as idealistic. While rescuing Geeta didn't appear to be worth it, it did just show how her heart was always in the right place. Since she is the only one that gets to walk away with some dough, I hope she does use it for something useful. Tig Notaro should do more action films because when playing Peters, she created a badass presence with her sardonic attitude. If there was more of her, she'd be a stronger highlight. Nora Arnezeder gave a good impression with the role of Lily. She lives up to the nickname 'Coyote' because she can be intrepid and persistent. Her experience in Vegas gives her the best advantage of surviving longer in a different scenario, making her the perfect choice of leading the expedition. The best thing about her is how she always had the last laugh to those who crossed her. Enter Theo Rossi and Garrett Dillahunt who are respectively on point on being despicable within their roles as Cummings and Martin. We hate these two because of how dangerous and selfish they get with the power they have and don't deserve. So when each meet their comeuppances by zombies, it goes without saying that it's as satisfying as the death of Captain Rhodes from Day of the Dead. Matthias Schweighofer quickly becomes the life of the party as Dieter because of how energetic he with his specialty of safecracking but is somewhat childish due to never encountering zombies before. He is gullible but does become brave in his own right when saving Vanderohe by pushing him into the vault. Since he was surrounded by zombies when closing the vault, I wouldn't believe he made it. So in that case, I am excited to see this character be part of the prequel Army of Thieves. Raoul Castillo and Samantha Win were also great additions as Guzman and Chambers because of how despite living selfish as in partaking a heist for clout, they knew that survival was more important. So when they honorably sacrifice themselves to give the group some time to flee, they surprisingly become more honorable than expected. Last but not least, Omari Hardwick is at his absolute best as Vanderohe, besides playing Ghost on starz' Power. Like Scott, his experience traumatized him and chose to stay away to find peace. Despite finding catharsis from the heist, it is a tragedy that he can't get to live the rest peacefully because he has a new problem: He's bit and is gonna turn into a zombie. I do feel like he could be more than just a zombie though. Since he has an omega marking on his chest, this could imply how he could create a new species to worry about whenever he reaches Mexico. When I say a new species, I mean zombies that are stronger than Zeus and the Alphas, which will raise the nightmare fuel only significantly. He did give a theory that the graves in the vault could be them and they're going through a time loop. If that is true, tean that is the heaviest fact this movie could ever give because the destiny of failure is too tragic to digest. Even though I had a blast with this movie, that didn't mean there weren't any problems. First off, why did it take so long to nuke Vegas in the first place? In a real life standpoint, I feel like that would've happened immediately when the city went ground zero. Also, what exactly is the time span from the outbreak to the heist? None of the characters appear to have aged, so I can't help but wonder if the events were only a year or months apart. I get that any rich person would be pre cautious when putting money in a trap, but do you do need guns and a wall that can crush whoever trespasses? I mean a tranquilizer was good enough. Seeing that firsthand, I don't believe that someone approved of that being there. It was wise how everyone questioned Martin's presence, but why does Scott not interrogate the guy when everyone else is suspicious. Hell, Guzman questioned Martin when it came to Chambers and it got ignored afterwards. It was kinda pointless how that didn't exactly go anywhere other than the obvious betrayal. And lastly, how did Scott lose sight of Kate? I know money looks beautiful in a vault but come on, he should've told her they'd find Geeta after the vault so that she'd stay. Other than that, this movie is still a blast. In short, Army of the Dead is zombie action at its finest for bringing in a new layer of creativity within the respected sub genre. So if you got Netflix and love zombies, than prepare to have a blast with this one.
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