Army of the Dead Review: A Zombie Heist with Bite

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Zack Snyder is back, following The Justice League, taking on another action project. Army of the Dead has a star studded cast, but finds it’s own path in a world Snyder may try to expand on further.

What happens in Army of the Dead?

In a post-apocalyptic world, one man’s wedding night on the road leads to Las Vegas crumbling. After crashing into a military escort, a deadly zombie is unleashed upon the world. As this alpha zombie creates his hoard, he attacks Las Vegas. A few brave souls save people as shipping crates lock the zombies inside and a quarantine zone is created on its perimeter. Later, Scott, one of the survivors, is tasked with retrieving money for Mr. Tanaka from the zombie infested land with his rag-tag, hand-picked team.

Who are the characters in Army of the Dead?

Our cast contains a ton of main characters, so we are going to run through them in short form. Scott Ward is the leader of our crew. He has lost a lot due to the infection, and he is hardened because of it. Kate is Scott’s daughter. She is a volunteer at the quarantine camp and barely has a relationship with her father. Mari Cruz is a mechanic who has a past with Scott. Vanderohe is a tough customer who has known Scott since the beginning of the zombie infection. Bly Tanaka is the man responsible for organizing the heist. He’s a very rich man unwilling to lose his money, regardless of the cost.

Army of the Dead Review

Army of the Dead has a lot going for it. It has an interesting plot, a great cast of characters, wonderful cinematography, and plenty of gore. Right now is probably a great time to warn you that this movie is rated R. Now, I know gore isn’t for everyone, but I am pleased to say that this movie does use it tastefully and in some pretty funny scenes.

As usual, the negatives, and there’s only one big one that leads into a few small ones. Yes, this movie features a large cast and many perspectives, but the problem with a large cast was that the characters weren’t ever developed. From the intro and how they were portrayed, they had loads of background and a lot of potential to be dynamic characters.

But with character interactions few and far between, this didn’t help the movie develop its characters. It also didn’t help that since the characters didn’t get much screen time, the emotional scenes just don’t hit as hard. It’s difficult to feel anything for archetypes. This in turn does lead to some predictability with the characters’ actions.

That’s honestly about it for negatives, because there are so many more positives. Now, for a two-and-a-half-hour movie, I’m glad to report that this movie had great pacing. None of the scenes dragged on too long, there was a good balance of suspense and downtime. Everything just flowed smoothly. Besides the plot, the action was fun.

The heist adds stakes to the movie, building the plot a bit. A similar movie is Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, with the comedy-action premise paired with a ticking clock. The extra stakes allows these movies to have meaning, and it kept me engaged throughout.

Being a more comedic zombie movie, the gore and over-the-top violence made for some fun zombie-slaying times. Especially the opening credits. Probably the best and funniest intro I have seen in a while. Also, the small jabs at present day media and events were great to add to on the comedic atmosphere.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the idea of the movie. Most zombie movies like to send the whole world into chaos, but this one left it all in Las Vegas. Having a relatively small scale made everything seem a bit more familiar and it got to show the audience how the zombies would act if they were quarantined. And to wrap it up, the plot was also pretty solid. It had a great mix of a heist movie and an action one.

Overall, if you aren’t there for character development and just for some fun zombie killing, then this is the movie for you. It has great action and comedy. But if you’re looking for a bit more character development, then this one won’t satisfy you there.