Army of the Dead: It's Not Dead on Arrival!

So this is different. This is the first time I've written a review for a Netflix exclusive. What makes this one special though was that I actually got to see the movie in a theater. Apparently, Cinemark made a deal with Netflix to show the film at their theater chains. I'm glad they did this because I really believed the theater experience made this better. It's nice that Netflix allowed Zack Snyder to show his film in multiple formats. I wish Warner Bros did that with the Justice League movie that came out a few months ago (which you should definitely watch on HBO Max, because it rules). Hopefully Netflix does a similar thing with Rian Johnson and his Knives Out sequels when they are released. With all of that out of the way, let's get started!

Army of the Dead is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Dave Bautista, Ella Burnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, and Nora Arnezeder. When a casino owner (Hiroyuki Sanada) offers a group of mercenaries $200 million, they must enter Las Vegas to retrieve it. The only thing is the place is swarming with zombies after a huge outbreak. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

Going into this movie, I didn't really know what to expect. I had seen the trailers, but I hadn't really followed along with everything that was going on. I was mainly looking forward to this because Snyder was directing and I loved Man of Steel and his cut of Justice League. He also is fantastic with visuals and a zombie heist movie seemed like an interesting idea. I walked out of this movie really enjoying it. Most of the characters, for me anyways, were pretty interesting. The one we spend the most time with is Scott Ward (Bautista) and his daughter Kate (Burnell). Bautista really brings a lot of emotional weight to the character and continues to prove himself as an actor. One scene comes to mind in particular. He's a brute in the movie, for sure, but there's a heartbreaking reason for it (no spoilers). There's a reason he's trying to get the money and you want to see him succeed. While the relationship between him and his daughter is sort of cliche, they really bounced off of each other quite well. Most of the development and focus is on them. Burnell does a good job as the rebellious daughter for the most part and I want to see more of this actress. Most of the side characters are pretty cool, too. Nora Arnezeder plays Lilly. She takes people out of the quarantine zone and brings them to LA. She knows the most about the zombies and is not only a guide for the characters, but for the audience as well. She's a survivor and has had to do some pretty shady stuff to live, but she's not a bad person. I kind of want to see a movie or show all about her. A few other characters that stuck out were Vanderhoe (Hardwick) and Dieter (Matthia Schweighöfer). They have great chemistry together and bounce off of each other pretty well. Vanderhoe is also a mercenary and knows a thing or two about getting into a scrape. Dieter, on the other hand, is hired to crack the safe, and is the complete opposite. He doesn't know how to kill a zombie and has no idea how to use a weapon. This just leads to all sorts of hilarity. Another character I liked was Peters (Tig Notaro). She was originally supposed to be played by Chris D'Elia, but after some rather, um, unsavory things came out about him, he was digitally replaced with Notaro. Notaro did a great job with the character. She was hysterical and just didn't give a crap about anything. Moving away from the characters, the zombies are very interesting in this movie. They're not like the cliche, slow-moving ones we are so used to seeing. They're quick and, in some cases, quite intelligent. Snyder did a lot of interesting things with them. They kind of remind me of the infected from I Am Legend. They're organized and act like a pack. There's a main one, a king if you will, who rules over all of them. He's the one we see the most and he's brutal. All of the zombies are quite creepy as well. They way they screech just sends a shiver down your spine. There's also a zombie tiger. I'm just bringing that up because it's freaking awesome. I really liked the look of them as well. The lore of the film was also pretty interesting. Usually in zombie movies, the entire world is affected by the outbreak, but not here. In Army, it's only Las Vegas, which I thought was kind of clever. The government has essentially cut the city off from the rest of the country and evacuates the non-infected from quarantine. It was pretty cool. The makeup work for the zombies was really good and never too over-the-top, which reflected this new take on the undead. The visuals in this movies are gorgeus, which is to be expected since it's a Snyder film. The way it's shot is beautiful. There's one scene that pops to mind that involves a sunset. This is actually the first feature-length film where Snyder is the cinematographer. He also did a great job of builiding tension. There's one scene involving zombies hibernating that was just stressful to watch. It was very well done. The action is also pretty intense. Just the sight of seeing hundreds of zombies barreling towards our heroes is terrifying.

There are some issues with the movie. It's not really a spoiler that, since it's a zombie film, people are going to die. As a result of that, characters are introduced just to be zombie chow. I was hoping for some more development for some of them that, when they bit it, I would feel something. Another issue I had involved keeping track of the characters. There's an action sequence in the third act when they're in the casino getting attacked by zombies. The only issue is the geography of the scene isn't established very well. When characters were getting attacked, I was wondering, "Why aren't other members of the team helping?" Granted,they could've been spread out, but the movie never really showed that. It left me a little frustrated. This movie is also pretty long, clocking in at about 2 and a half hours. Personally, I didn't have an issue with the length until the end. I thought the movie was ending and then it cuts to another scene which felt completely tacked on. It's only purpose, I think, is to set up a sequel (which I do hope this movie gets). Some of the characters make some pretty stupid decisions as well that have disasterous results for the team. Sometimes, the movie gets a little predictable, especially with a business associate played by Garret Dillahunt.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Army of the Dead. I really liked the relationship between Bautista and his daughter, most of the cast does a really good job, the zombies are awesome and unique, and the visuals are gorgeous. Sometimes this is held back by a lack of character developments, keeping track of where everyone is, and an ending that felt a little too tacked on. I'm really interested to see where this franchise goes. There is already a prequel and anime series in development. If you get a chance I would definitely see it in theaters, but if not watch it on Netflix too! If I were to rate it, I'd give Army of the Dead an 8-8.5/10.