Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves can help fix the biggest problem with Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. A prequel to Snyder’s zombie-heist film, Army of Thieves takes place six years prior to the events in Vegas, featuring Ludwig Dieter (Schweighöfer) in his early days of safecracking, wherein he is hired by a mysterious woman for pulling off a heist. Also starring Nathalie Emmanuel and Guz Khan, Army of Thieves is set to be released on October 29, 2021, on Netflix.
Despite sporting an exemplary cast and several breathtaking action sequences, Snyder’s Army of the Dead was deemed tonally inconsistent and rife with plot contrivances. The aspect of genre mashup failed to work in favor of the film, as the narrative did not sincerely commit to the plot’s zombie or heist aspect, resulting in a massive tonal mess. Apart from this, due to the presence of a plethora of characters in Army of the Dead, the winding plot failed to add meaningful development to most of its players, who meet their demise before the audience is granted the chance to truly connect.
However, these issues can be fixed in the narrative of Army of Thieves, as the premise is more streamlined, allowing room for more effective character development. While Army of Thieves will follow a similar blueprint of a high-stakes heist and an ensemble crew, the central focus will most definitely differ, as the events take place at the beginning stages of the zombie outbreak. As the crew is headed by Dieter, who claims to have never fought a zombie before the events of Army of the Dead, it is unlikely that the zombie aspect will be positioned front and center.
If Army of Thieves does have far fewer zombies and less action, it will be much more condensed, taut, and narratorially balanced in comparison to Army of the Dead. It will be interesting to witness how a traditional heist plot can be exciting and frenetic, banking upon interesting characters and intrigue that accelerates towards an exciting finish. Although Army of Thieves is a prequel, it is possible that certain visual and narrative cues can offer more insight into the exact reasons behind the zombie outbreak, while introducing interconnected reveals and key players into the franchise.
In essence, Army of the Dead held immense potential in terms of exploring its zombie lore and tying together its loose ends in a seamless manner. As the film falls short on those fronts, Army of Thieves can delve deeper into the origins of Zeus, the zombie king, and the rules of hierarchy that govern the undead in this universe. Apart from this, as Dieter’s fate in Army of the Dead is left open-ended, owing to an off-screen death, the prequel can potentially offer greater insight into the character’s psyche and add legitimacy to the many theories that revolve around the franchise as a whole.
