REVIEW #47 ARMY OF THE DEAD (2021)

Army of the Dead is a horror/action film directed by Zack Snyder, set in America just after Las Vegas is taken over by a zombie infection. The city has been barricaded and a nuke is set to wipe out its zombie inhabitants but a selected group have been tasked to get in and break into a casino vault before that happens.

CAST & THE ACTING (8/10)

I think the casting for this film was really good, Dave Bautista leads the ensemble as Scott Ward and I think he was perfect for the role. He shows range and brings depth to a character which, at first look, just seems like an action hero. However as the film goes on we see him go on a path of redemption with his daughter Kate (played by Ella Purcell), so we actually see quite an emotional journey for the character. The other cast members include Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Tig Notaro,  Huma Qureshi among other familiar faces! I think every does a good job and it’s a good mixture of comedic performances and more dramatic performances which really got you invested in the characters.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE (8.5/10)

When I first read the plot of the film I did question why on Earth would anyone care about money in a zombie apocalypse, making a heist pretty pointless. However my doubts were rather quickly proven wrong. The zombie outbreak had been kept within Las Vegas with the rest of America living normal lives and with Las Vegas soon to be nuked the team has to go in and break into the vault for a rather large pay day before that happens. I think that’s a really good take on the zombie genre and it was actually really enjoyable to watch. We are given key context as to how the zombie outbreak started and also on the lives of the main characters and how they were effected by the initial outbreak. This meant there were no unanswered questions and the plot was therefore really easy to follow and enjoy. They used a more intelligent zombie species in order to make the film a little more interesting and up the stakes for the characters which was exciting and that’s why I feel it justifies a strong score here! 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS (9/10)

I am a really big fan of Zack Snyder and how he creates his films and it is no different here. The cinematography was great and I particularly liked the start of the film where it introduced us to all of the main characters with them standing holding a picture frame on photo shoot set and then proceeding to a flashback of them surviving the initial outbreak. I have probably explained that pretty poorly but when you watch it you will get what I mean, it was really well done! The special effects were good and I liked how gory it was and the action scenes were captured brilliantly and they just flowed so smoothly. It is probably the best cinematography I have seen in any zombie film, it’s really exciting. 

OVERALL (8.5/10)

I really enjoyed this film, the cast and the acting was good and the mixture of comedy and dramatic performances created some really likeable characters which the audience could get invested in. The plot is really well thought out and it was a nice twist on the usual zombie flick. The cinematography is the stand out element of this film and that is why I rate Zack Snyder so much as a directed he brings his scenes to life in such an exciting way and it is probably the best cinematography I have seen in a zombie movie and I have seen plenty of them! It is currently out on Netflix but I wish I could have seen it in the cinema because it would have been a great experience for sure. I would definitely recommend watching it.

Thanks for reading.

Callan