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 (052821)
Chocolate and peanut butter. Slashers and R-ratings. Movie theaters and
audiences who know how to shut the hell up. Some things go together so
beautifully that they become the ideal. Bringing together zombies and an
elaborate heist setup feels like a similarly minded stroke of genius as both
subgenres — the latter in particular — have delivered more than a few true
bangers over the years. Happily, while there are some undead bumps along the
way, Zack Snyder‘s Army of the Dead hits the beats you expect from both heist
films and zombie flicks while still managing to deliver some fresh mythology of
its own.
In a reveal that should surprise no one, secret military transports and road
head don’t mix nearly as well leading to a zombie outbreak that decimates Las
Vegas. The once neon-lit city goes dark as the undead are walled up within and
stragglers hole up in refugee camps outside. The US government has impending
plans to nuke the mess right off the map, but while most sensible people head
the opposite direction a ragtag group of mercenaries, weirdos, and broke fools
is heading towards the heart of it all. Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) is heading up
a team with plans to infiltrate the zombified city, crack a casino vault, and
escape with two-hundred million dollars in cash. What could possibly go wrong?
Anyone who’s seen a heist film (or a zombie movie for that matter) should know
enough to expect that nearly everything can and will go wrong, and Army of the
Dead delivers on that expectation. Snyder and co-writers Shay Hatten and Joby
Harold also deliver an abundance of zombie mayhem, bloody carnage, and deadly
wrenches thrown into their ticking clock scenario. The human side of things are
entertaining even as they feel familiar, but the film finds enough fresh angles
with its undead population to keep the meat on its narrative bones from growing
stale.
From its slow-motion opening montage — an epic short film in its own right that
gifts viewers with enough gloriously stylish carnage for a whole movie — to
later zombie attacks, we’re introduced to two different breeds of the undead.
The shamblers do exactly that motivated only by a desire for human flesh, but
the alphas are something altogether different. They’re smarter and capable of
exhibiting both hierarchy and ritual, and while the shamblers are easy targets
the alphas land the team in all manner of dire situations. Oh, and did I mention
there’s also a zombie tiger and an undead horse?
Army of the Dead‘s visual style fluctuates at times as Snyder moves the action
from sunny slaughters to massacres on the casino floor, but while most of it
holds up and works well to build the world of the film, some elements fall
short. It’s a CG-heavy endeavor, albeit one blended with real-world locations
and practical effects, and some of those visuals feel a bit off. From strangely
metallic-looking zombie faces to some iffy digital insertion, they’re
distractions from an otherwise well-crafted world. Tig Notaro‘s presence is a CG
mine-field all its own as she was brought on after production wrapped to replace
a different performer, and while some of it looks pretty flawless other shots
aren’t so lucky.
There’s no arguing with the blood and gore, though, even as it also finds life
through both CG and practical effects. Zombies and humans alike are sliced,
diced, shot, chewed up, and torn apart with abandon, and it’s all pretty dam
delightful for genre fans. Sound design is equally pleasing as the tearing of
flesh and bone is paired with the jangle of slot machines and gun fire. Song
choices and needle drops, an expected element of any Snyder film, are the usual
mixed bag as slow covers and rocking originals penetrate your ears. Ending the
film on The Cranberries’ “Zombie” is an especially perfect, if not subtle,
choice.
It’s ultimately the script where most critics will find fault with Army of the
Dead, and those critiques will be hard to argue against. While it never drags,
the two-and-a-half hour film does spend too much time in its build up — it’s a
full fifty minutes before the team enters Las Vegas — before cutting loose, and
character motivations/behaviors are mostly pretty familiar. Oh, and the less
said about the obnoxious Sean Spicer cameo the better. Other elements,
particularly those surrounding the alpha zombies, succeed far better. From an
undead queen to a cape and helmet-wearing king, this breed of the undead offers
some interesting and/or fun complications and revelations along the way.
The cast is wholly game for the ride starting with another strong turn from
Bautista. He’s a gravitational force due as much to his charisma as to his
counterintuitive blending of size and emotion, and you can’t help but root for
his character’s desire to open an artisan grilled cheese food truck. The rest of
the ensemble is rarely less appealing with the likes of Garret Dillahunt, Ella
Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Nora Arnezeder, Matthias Schweighöfer, and Hiroyuki
Sanada delivering some combination of laughs and/or thrills. Samantha Win is a
particular standout as her character Chambers is arguably the toughest badass
and offers up the film’s first of two nods to Aliens (1986).
Army of the Dead is a big and bloody blast made by the same guy who made Dawn of
the Dead (2004) which killed off the entire cast in the end credits, so proceed
at your own risk. It works, though, and should appeal to horror fans and action
junkies alike with its bullet-spitting hardware and blood-spewing zombies.
Neither heist films nor zombie movies offer guarantees when it comes to their
protagonists’ fates, and a pairing of the two promises to be equally dangerous
for all involved. From a newly married couple to a father/daughter reunion,
emotional moments in this world come at the risk of being devoured by an undead
Elvis impersonator. I’d say more, but what happens in Vegas sometimes dies in
Vegas. It’s a gamble, really.
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