Army of the Dead movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: ARMY OF THE DEAD

Available now in select theaters and on Netflix on May 21, 2021

RATING: R

LENGTH: 2 hours, 28 minutes No Director’s Cut needed because Zack Snyder clearly didn’t leave anything out of this film.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Zack Snyder has created an incredibly gory zombie movie that simply crosses the line. Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries takes the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. Zack Snyder’s first zombie apocalypse movie was Dawn of the Dead in 2004, which was his directorial debut. This is not a sequel or related to that movie. This is his first digitally shot feature film.

I was originally excited to see this movie because I thought he did such a great job on his recent Director’s Cut of Justice League, but within mere minutes of watching the prologue of ARMY OF THE DEAD, I was disappointed by the extreme gore and disgusting content. I read that he had actually cut some scenes out of the movie that he thought crossed the line. I thought he crossed the line MANY times in this blood bath of a movie. I recognize that there will be many people who think this film is awesome, but it’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

THINGS I LIKED:

Really great camera work. Zack Snyder worked as the cinematographer, director, and even helped with the screenplay.
I’ve liked Dave Bautista ever since I saw him in the first Guardians of the Galaxy (Theatrical) In this film, he fights zombies, but he also spends a lot of time having sappy conversations with people.
The cast includes Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighofer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, and Tig Notaro, plus many more.
Chris D’Elia filmed his role in the movie but when stories broke about his illegal sexual pursuits with underage girls, Zack Snyder yanked him from the movie and replaced him with comedian Tig Notario who was filmed alone on a green screen and inserted into the scenes later in post-production editing. Tig did a great job and so did the editing crew to make those inserts look seamless.
The movie was actually filmed in the former Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, not Las Vegas. Because the hotel had been closed since 2014, they had to bring in dozens of air conditioning units for the crew.
Fun fact: A real tiger was used for some of the shots of a zombie tiger. They put makeup on it and had a trainer near it at all times. They also used some computer-generated clips that were inspired by the Netflix documentary series TIGER KING that came out right after the pandemic began in 2020.
Good, creepy sound effects and some really good visual effects.
Lots and lots of action.
There is an attempt at humor. Some of it works, but not all of it lands.
You never know what Zack Snyder is going to do with characters. He doesn’t seem to care about who lives or dies because he loves a great shock.
Great song choices and musical score by Junkie XL.
There are some memorable moments that people will be sure to keep talking about.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The story about the queen zombie is ridiculous. It also makes no sense that some of the zombies have feelings and cognitive thinking skills, plus there are plenty of other elements that make no logical sense according to the film’s own zombie rules. Zack Snyder tries to create a new kind of zombie kingdom.
Topless women zombies
Sometimes the zombies have superhero powers and other times they walk really slowly like we’re used to seeing zombies do.
Most of the zombies just look like actors in costume and makeup.
The movie could have easily been shortened.