Nora Arnezeder and Dave Bautista in Army of the Dead

After making his feature-length directorial debut on the 2004 remake of George A. Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead, filmmaker Zack Snyder returns to the realm of zombie movies for his latest, Army of the Dead. Instead of the prototypical zombie flick about an outbreak, Snyder uses the backdrop of an undead-infested Las Vegas for a heist movie that combines action and horror in equal measure. But while the director is aiming for something like Ocean's 11 meets Dawn of the Dead, the film is neither a skillfully crafted heist plot, nor does it employ its zombies to offer much, if any social commentary on the state of the world like Romero's original. Instead, it takes the most basic entertainment value from the respective genres to craft this new type of zombie thriller. Snyder's Army of the Dead delivers some compelling action and shocking visuals, but isn't clever or fun enough to be more than a shallow zombie flick.

Army of the Dead follows a rather simple plot, focusing on Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), who's tasked by the billionaire Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) to assemble a team and recover money from the vault of his casino - the catch being that Las Vegas has been completely overrun by zombies and the government plans to nuke the city in just a few days. Ward calls in his old friends Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), who help him recruit the rest of their team: German safecracker Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), helicopter pilot Peters (Tig Notoro) and Internet-famous sharp-shooter Mikey (Raúl Castillo), who brings along his friend and fellow zombie killer Chambers (Samantha Win). With the help of Scott's daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), a Coyote (Nora Arnezeder) known for taking folks inside the city and Tanaka's head of security Martin (Garret Dillahunt), they venture inside Las Vegas, where they'll contend with the alpha zombie Zeus (Richard Cetrone).

Related: Army Of The Dead Zombies Explained: Alphas, Shamblers, And Animals

Nora Arnezeder, Raúl Castillo, Matthias Schweighöfer, Omari Hardwick and Ana de la Reguera in Army of the Dead

In addition to directing, Snyder serves as co-writer on Army of the Dead, penning the script along with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum) and Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), based on a story by Snyder himself. Though Snyder, Hatten and Harold attempt to complicate the plot of the movie by including various twists, most of them are trite variations on old standbys. There's a shady character who turns out to be as shady as they seem - even compared to the rest of the group of criminals - and the character hiding their zombie bite, thus endangering the people around them. Perhaps Army of the Dead's most original idea is its reinvention of zombies from a braindead shambling force to smarter humanoid creatures (though that, of course, removes the inherent commentary of the mindless mass), but since none of the characters are given much depth beyond the basic sketches of humanity, Zeus simply becomes one of many underdeveloped characters. In fact, even the alpha zombie's motivation is reduced to a cliché trope that's extremely overused, especially in action-thrillers.

The lack of depth is especially apparent in the way Army of the Dead uses its female characters, all of which essentially operate to drive the story forward or provide emotional depth for the male characters. Purnell's Kate is the stubbornly moralistic daughter who needs her father to protect her from the world, Reguera's Cruz seemingly exists simply to be the token woman amid mercenaries before a bizarre third-act turn that comes out of nowhere (and goes nowhere), and Arnezeder's Coyote is the misunderstood criminal. Notoro's Peters is the only female character that doesn't fall into some kind of tired trope, but that's likely because the role was originally written for a man (the now-replaced Chris D'Elia). Notoro is the biggest standout of the cast insofar as she's the only one having fun with the material, though that means even if her addition to the film were seamless (it isn't), she'd still feel as if she's in a whole different movie. Though Schweighöfer's Dieter is also meant to be comedic relief, the dialogue and the actor's delivery makes the character come off more creepy than charmingly awkward. As for the rest of the cast, Bautista and Hardwick are fine, bringing what they can to their thinly sketched characters. It's rather telling in an ensemble movie like Army of the Dead that the most memorable character isn't one of the leads or the group as a whole, but the last-minute replacement.

Richard Cetrone and Omari Hardwick in Army of the Dead

Of course, Snyder is perhaps most well known as a filmmaker for his action and visuals, of which Army of the Dead provides plenty. Snyder smartly uses his world's different types of zombies to offer a variety of action set pieces, though there's still only so many ways to make shooting a bunch of zombies in the head interesting. Thankfully, the smart zombies provide a more formidable foe in the latter half of the movie - though, again, they lose some of their zombie-specific horror in the process, making Zeus simply a very strong villain. As for the visuals, Snyder goes all-in on the R-rated freedom granted by Netflix - for better or for worse. There's plenty of gore for those who like their horror movies bloody, and some gratuitous nudity, because why not. However, the film's portrayal and desecration of women's bodies in particular is incredibly frustrating, not because women can't be on the end of brutal killings, but because Army of the Dead uses this violence to prove its points about various male characters. Even in their destruction, women exist solely to serve men. It's exhausting and another way in which Army of the Dead falls into tired tropes and clichés even for all Snyder's effort to deliver a freshly original zombie movie.

To be sure, there will be those that enjoy Snyder's return to zombie fare with Army of the Dead. The filmmaker has proven to have a devoted fan base who find value in his work, and they'll likely enjoy his latest release. And even some who aren't major fans of Snyder may find some entertainment in the popcorn-style action and horror of Army of the Dead, though others may find it to be a bland, humorless addition to the genre. As such, fans of Snyder's work will no doubt want to check out Army of the Dead, and those intrigued by the premise may want to give it a shot. But Army of the Dead is by no means a must-watch zombie or heist movie, and folks uninterested in this film would be fine to skip it.

Next: Army of the Dead Movie Trailer

Army of the Dead releases in select theaters in the U.S. and starts streaming on Netflix Friday, May 21st. It is 148 minutes long and rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, some sexual content and brief nudity/graphic nudity.

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