From the same guy who gave you Dawn of the Dead comes a 2021 approach to zombie flicks. Zack Snyder delivered an action packed, stupid and awesome zombie movie and I absolutely love it.
This movie screams Zack Snyder! From the slow motion sequences to blurred focuses and music choices. Some may hate it, some may love it and still some would not even care. Violence, Blood and Gore… this movie will not disappoint you in those aspects.
A bit of Synopsis
The story is about a group of mercenaries/ex-soldiers who were saviors at the peak of the Las Vegas zombie outbreak and now on a lay-low mode. After the whole area has been quarantined, they were task to perform an ultimate heist. But in able to achieve that, they need to go in the zombie infested Las Vegas, get the goods and exit again.
The Zombies
The zombies here are a bit different. They have different levels: The slow and dumb ones, the quick and hyper 28 days later type and the sort of intelligent ones. But wait, there is more… They have an Alpha… the one that acts as the leader, unites the zombies and speak to them with what I call the “Growl” Language.
The Actors
The movie is packed with known performers which made this movie much more enjoyable. Familiar faces that added to the value of a zombie movie. Here’s to name a few…
Dave “Batista” Bautista
Well, you know this guy, the wrestling champ and Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy to name a few. He did an awesome character in this flick. I personally think that his acting in totality improved dramatically in the past few years. I can even say that, he’s almost like in the ranks of The Rock. He plays lead in the group of mercenaries.
Hiroyuki Tanada
The samurai of hollywood. He recently played Scorpion in the 2021 rehash of Mortal Kombat, starred in 47 Ronin, Last Samurai and Avengers Endgame. He played Bly Tanaka, who gave the Job to Scott’s team, a small role here nevertheless, it’s quite significant to the movie
Omari Hadwick
Omari Latif Hardwick is an American actor, poet, rapper, producer and podcaster, best known for his starring role as James “Ghost” St. Patrick, the protagonist of Starz’s Power and more recently his role as Vanderohein this movie as a close friend to Scott Ward.
Ella Purnell
Ella Summer Purnell is an English actress best known for her roles in the films Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Churchill and now as the Daughter of Scott in this movie.
Tig Notaro
Mathilde “Tig” O’Callaghan Notaro is an American stand-up comic, writer, radio contributor, and actress. She is known for her deadpan comedy. She plays the Heli-pilot in this movie and did a stand-out performance considering that she just came in to replace Chris D’Ellia who was removed from the movie after issues with harassment. Another trivia is that Tig Notaro’s health condition only made it possible for Zack’s team to insert her digitally in most of the sequences. She said she never met Batista in person while filming. For the record, I think Tig was the perfect fit for the character and damn! I think she can play any character with a flying “A”. Personally, she’s my favorite charcter in Army of the Dead.
Garret Lee
Garret Lee Dillahunt is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television for the roles of Simon Escher on Burn Notice, Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope and John in the Fear the Walking Dead Series. He’s a versatile actor. He can play both side, hero and villain. But here, he plays Martin, Bly Tanaka’s inside man and the bad guy and he’s hateable which makes it really good.
My Take
This movie is not for the critics, skeptics and cynics who’s main purpose is to classify movies in a genre, review it’s content for it’s hefty psychological, political and spiritual value. Not for them.
This movie is for the zombie-loving nerds and for those who wanted to be entertained with post apocalyptic movies with occasional blood splatters, funky lines and violent actions. It’s a fun stupid movie and I love it. This definitely will get my “to Watch again” award! Go watch it in Netflix! Now!
I give Army of the Dead a 4 out of 5!