Army of the Dead (2021) – Netflix Movie Review
The true star of this movie?
That poor focus puller.
Hey everybody, welcome to Mainely Movies.
Today I’m gonna be talking about the 2021
zombie heist film: Army of the Dead, in theaters
now and coming to Netflix on May 21st.
If you’re new here, please consider subscribing
for a variety of movie-related content like
reviews, ranked lists, and trailer reactions.
All of my reviews include a breakdown of the
pros and cons, my rating, and some tailored
film recommendations, so be sure to watch
through to the end of this video for all of
that extra content.
Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Ella
Purnell, and Omari Hardwick and was directed
by Zack Snyder.
It tells the story of a group of former mercenaries
who plan a Las Vegas casino heist amidst a
zombie apocalypse.
Anytime Netflix does a limited theatrical
run of one of their films, I try to get out
to see it.
Most of the time, those movies don’t make
it to theaters here, but to my surprise, Army
of the Dead did, so I got to see this on the
big screen.
Not only that, but I got a good old-fashioned
Maine private screening.
In other words, nobody else bought a ticket,
so
I really enjoy zombie movies and this was
kind of an interesting set of circumstances
for me because Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn
of the Dead was actually the first zombie
movie I ever saw in the theater, so this was
kind of an interesting full circle experience.
Aside from that sort of nostalgic element,
I had been reasonably excited for this movie.
Again, zombie movies are one of my things
and this one looked like it was going to be
a very fun and unique mashup with the whole
heist element.
And I gotta say, it wasn’t exactly what
I had anticipated.
This seemed like a movie that was going to
be a lot of fun.
I mean, you had that ridiculous premise, a
bizarre mix of genres, all that bright, colorful
neon marketing.
And the film certainly has fun moments – there’s
some humor, some pretty decent action and
gore at times, but on the whole, it wasn’t
a particularly fun movie which was more than
a little surprising for me.
I think a big part of the reasoning for that
comes down to the script.
A story that should’ve been pretty simple
and straightforward just tried to do far too
many things and could never strike the right
tonal balance as a result.
It’s got two plot components that you’d
expect coming in – zombies and the heist.
The zombie side is pretty decent, the heist
a little less impressive, but this movie has
so many other things added to it that really
bog it down.
There are some subplots (especially involving
a certain character’s daughter) that are
completely unnecessary for the story and similarly,
there are a number of dramatic emotional beats
that pop up every now and then that really
disrupt the pacing and don’t serve the story.
The whole movie has this very overstuffed,
bloated feeling to it.
I mean, even the zombie stuff is just too
involved.
There’s this whole zombie character arc
subplot thing and different classes of zombies.
And the ideas are interesting, there are some
cool concepts there, but they’re just thrown
in with all of these other concepts and subplots
and it’s just too much.
And so, while there are some cool things and
some fun elements, none of these pieces feel
complete.
They feel like these scattered ideas thrown
together that work, but aren’t really cohesively
satisfying.
As I mentioned before, this is Zack Snyder’s
second zombie movie – his second Of the Dead
movie.
And while Dawn of the Dead was a remake that
served as his directorial debut, this is an
original film, coming out deep into his career.
17 years in and Snyder has established a very
distinctive filmmaking style.
And there’s no mistaking Army of the Dead
for anything other than one of his movies.
For better or worse, every stylistic choice
you expect from one of his films is present
here – and likely dialed to 11.
Excessive slow-motion, speed ramping, plenty
of slowed-down acoustic covers of popular
songs, and a particular emphasis on focus
in this movie – with a pretty constant shallow,
soft focus and more focal blur transitions
than I could count.
Needless to say, this is very much a Snyder
film.
So, if you like his style, you’re going
to love the look of this movie.
If you don’t like his style, this is going
to be a very grating experience for you.
And so we end up with a two and a half hour
long zombie movie.
And I’m not somebody who looks at any movie
over two hours long and scoffs.
I think there’s definitely a time and place
for longer movies… this just wasn’t one
of them.
The story didn’t warrant it.
It tried to.
It tackled a whole bunch of things sort of
surface level and tried to delve into a little
bit of character development.
Which is usually an admirable thing, but we’re
talking about an ensemble zombie movie here.
I mean, there’s an expectation that most
of the characters aren’t going to survive
and so this isn’t the type of movie that
needs these emotional character beats.
It honestly feels like this should have been
a limited miniseries rather than a movie if
the goal was to flesh out all of these aspects.
It’s just a shame because I think if all
of those extraneous ideas and subplots had
been trimmed and the story focus had been
exclusively on a heist in the midst of a traditional
zombie apocalypse – fun or serious – this
could’ve been a really cool movie.
Instead, it’s a movie with some cool ideas.
Alright, let’s talk about the pros and cons.
Pro number one has got to be the premise.
We’ve seen so many different types of zombie
movies over the years, but the idea of a zombie
heist film is really fresh and unique.
It’s the kind of genre mashup that sounds
a little weird and silly at first, but then
really makes sense as a combination.
I remember when I first saw the teaser trailer
that it seemed a little strange that anybody
would be stealing money during a zombie apocalypse
because what purpose would money serve at
that point, but this film crafts its set-up
in a way that makes the heist plotline reasonable.
I just wish that premise that we’re given
was the sole focus of the film.
The second pro is the action.
And I’m a little split here on this particular
pro cause this movie isn’t quite as action
heavy as you might expect it to be.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of
explosions, and zombie hordes, and helicopters,
and a zombie tiger, but there’s also a lot
of downtime too.
There are a few sequences, however, that were
really exciting and fun.
My favorite was probably a scene involving
a solitary character taking on a large horde
of zombies in a very John Wick fashion.
There’s also a pretty good action sequence
that takes place on the casino floor.
So, I wouldn’t say all of the action is
great (especially with some of the stylistic
choices employed), but it definitely had its
moments of exciting, gory entertainment.
On the con side, the biggest issue is how
bloated this film is.
It takes a story that should’ve been a slick,
breezy 90 minute heist film and just pads
it with all of these extra subplots and concepts
and ideas until we have this behemoth two
and a half hour long movie.
The heist is still buried in there, but it’s
not really the focus anymore because that
focus is split among so many different things.
We’ve got family drama, there’s relationship
drama, there’s conspiracies, a race against
the clock, attempted social commentary, whole
zombie plot threads.
There are just too many things crammed into
this movie, all trying to be as epic and significant
as possible when a much more simplified and
streamlined story would’ve been far more
effective.
The second con is admittedly a little more
subjective, but is how surprisingly little
fun this movie is.
And I know, it sounds crazy cause this is
the type of movie that should be so much fun.
It’s got a silly, but interesting premise,
some over-the-top zombie action scenes, an
ensemble cast with quite a few comic relief
characters.
And then you look at the promotional material
– the teaser, the trailer, the posters – it
all screams fun.
And so I went in expecting it to be fun.
And it definitely has quite a few fun moments,
but overall it gets too bogged down by its
own bizarre sense of gravitas.
It tries to be to serious and emotional, it
tries to be too epic.
And so, it saps the fun out of itself.
And obviously not every movie has to be fun,
but this is the type of movie that should’ve
been.
Before I give you my rating and recommendations,
I want to remind you that if you’re interested
in buying any of the films I mentioned today,
I do have affiliate links for all of them
in the description below.
I get a small commission from anything you
buy using one of my links, so I’d really appreciate
if you’d use them if you’re in the market
for any of these movies.
I’m gonna give Army of the Dead 3 out of
5 paws.
It has a really cool premise and is reasonably
entertaining throughout, but gets bogged down
by its excessively bloated storyline, which
drains much of the fun that could’ve been
had with it.
I would recommend Army of the Dead, first
and foremost, to fans of Zack Snyder’s filmmaking
style.
If you like the stylistic elements he employs
in most of his films – like the slow-motion
and speed ramping, then I think you’re going
to enjoy the style here too.
Similarly, if you like the grandiose nature
of his films from the last decade or so, I
think you’ll find this suitably epic.
General zombie fans will probably get a reasonable
kick out of this too, but if your main draw
here was the heist component and you’re
not a Snyder super fan, then I think you might
be left a bit underwhelmed.
If you liked Army of the Dead, I would recommend
Zombieland.
That’s a zombie movie that has its comedic
tonal balance worked out a little bit better
and also features a slow-motion title sequence
that’s equal parts funny and gorily brutal,
similar to what we see here.
If you want a slightly more straightforward
zombie film, I’d suggest the 2004 remake
of Dawn of the Dead, which was actually Zack
Snyder’s directorial debut.
And if you just can’t get enough zombies
in Vegas, you might want to watch Resident
Evil: Extinction.
It’s the third film in the Resident Evil
franchise and features the Vegas strip in
a big zombie showdown.
Alright, a couple questions for you guys.
Number one: Have you seen Army of the Dead?
If so, what’d you think of it?
And number two: Besides a heist, what other
film subgenre would you like to see uniquely
mixed with a zombie movie?
Be sure to leave your answers in the comments
below so we can get a discussion going.
Alright, so if you got some enjoyment, insight,
or information out of this review, I’d appreciate
it if you’d hit that like button.
And, if you haven’t done so already, please
hit subscribe while you’re at it, so you
can see more videos like this.
Till next time, this has been Alyssa with
Mainely Movies: The way life should be.
