{"id":16547,"date":"2021-05-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=16547"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:14:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:14:34","slug":"review-army-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-army-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Army of the Dead<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The opening credits of Zack Snyder\u2019s Army of the Dead<\/em> provides an early indicator of what the filmmaker has in store. After a nasty, effective cold open involving an army convoy, ill-fated Las Vegas honeymooners and \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 zombies, Snyder gives us a montage that shows how the Vegas strip became overrun with the undead, and also introduces the movie\u2019s mercenary protagonists. For about 90 seconds it\u2019s all fun and games; Snyder even brings back Dawn of the Dead <\/em>lounge singer Richard Cheese to cover \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d as zombified Elvis impersonators and showgirls chow down on the living. But then, suddenly, the music gets sad and slow, and the visuals tragic. It\u2019s unclear whether we\u2019re supposed to be amped or sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of Army of the Dead<\/em> reflects that same tonal whiplash. It should<\/em> be fun (a Vegas heist! With zombies!), and there are moments of dark humor peppered throughout. Those moments are overwhelmed, however, by intense, unnecessary heaviness, as well as a glut of characters and plots that don\u2019t need to be there. Instead of lean, nasty genre entertainment, it\u2019s a weighty, overly complicated two-and-a-half hour slog with occasional bright spots that serve as a reminder of the movie\u2019s squandered promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dave Bautista plays Scott Ward, the leader of a group of soldiers decorated for their efforts in confining the zombie apocalypse, now haunted by PTSD. Scott is recruited by Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) to gather a team for a Vegas strip casino heist inside zombie territory before the government nukes the spot. In addition to his old army buddies (Ana de la Reguera, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro), Scott recruits a hotshot sniper (Ra\u00fal Castillo) and a wunderkind safecracker (Matthias Schweigh\u00f6fer) as well as a shifty member of Tanaka\u2019s team (Garret Dillahunt). Scott\u2019s estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), a zombie refugee camp volunteer, tags along in search of a missing friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What seemed like a straightforward job is anything but, as zombie culture on the other side of the wall has evolved into its own flesh-eating kingdom. Making the abandoned Vegas into a self-contained world is a clever turn that gives Army of the Dead<\/em> a different flavor. However, it also significantly slows the movie\u2019s momentum, which is already bogged down by an abundance of characters. Many of them also carry significant emotional baggage, which all gets worked out over the course of several overlapping subplots, slowing things down even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Said baggage also makes Army of the Dead<\/em>\u2019s few fun moments feel slightly out of place. The insertion of Tig Notaro to replace former cast member Chris D\u2019Elia is enjoyable, but her bone-dry delivery feels at odds with everything else around it. Hardwick and Schweigh\u00f6fer have a fun dynamic, but it\u2019s underexplored because we\u2019re spending too much time with Scott apologizing to Kate for being a bad father. Kate\u2019s subplot adds nothing, and feels like an excuse to shoehorn in a father-daughter relationship the movie doesn\u2019t need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are seeds of good ideas in Army of the Dead<\/em>, and the ruined retro Vegas aesthetic is fun to spend time in. Unfortunately, what\u2019s most noticeable here is the amount of fat that could be trimmed for a shorter running time (though at least it\u2019s not four hours) and to make the action and plotting more coherent. A good heist movie provides a reason for every choice it makes. A good zombie movie shows more than it tells. Army of the Dead<\/em> does neither. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“Army of the Dead” is in theaters now. It streams Friday on Netflix<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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