Since Army of the Dead was announced I was looking forward to this title. The fact that Zack Snyder was involved didn't detract my anticipation because the trailer did make it look like it wasn't going to be pretentious. It was going to be light and fun. At least that is what I had hoped for.
Unfortunately apart from a few fun moments Army of Dead was dead on arrival. Yes pun intended. The premise in itself is pretty simple and straightforward. A bunch of mercenaries are hired to pull a heist in Vegas. The twist is that Vegas is overrun by a horde of zombies. So chances of the team succeeding are very slim to begin with. But to be honest, most of the characters who get involved do look like they are able to make it happen. And most of them definitely come through and get their moments to shine. However because of certain plot decisions the most coolest and badass characters are killed of relatively early. I dont' understand this. Because with them at the helm of events they could have made Army of the Dead awesome. Instead we are left with one character specifically who I foresaw was going to be trouble the second she entered the screen. How exactly was I going to root for this obnoxious character who in large part is responsible for the death of beloved characters? This only would make sense if they could redeem her. But no. No such thing happens. The biggest problem is that Zack Snyder focuses on an age old thematic of the strained relationship between a father and daughter. It's obvious he had a path of redemption and reconciliation in mind but then does nothing to do something substantial with it. It also takes Zack Snyder too long to get to the point. In that regard someone really ought to talk to him and give some lessons how to keep things constrained yet substantial.
I know this is a zombie flick and you shouldn't really give that much thought to why certain things happen. But even the worst zombie films explain why the zombies happen or how they are different from what we know. Here there are different types of zombies. Slow ones ( my personal favourite) and super fast ones who are very intelligent and coordinated like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. I am not really a fan of such creatures as they go against what zombies should be about. Zack Snyder doesn't seem to understand this. But I can't deny they did provide some cool moments. However they aren't scary. Since they act more like humans I couldn't really view them as monsters. Slow zombies represent former humans being who now aimlessly wander the world to eat flesh infinitely until they are stopped. You can see glimpses of the people they used to be. That is so much more scarier than super zombies. Not saying you couldn't make fast zombies scary. I mean good productions like Train to Busan and Kingdom show they can accomplish dread in a different way. In this flick though the dread is absent.
Some redeeming elements. While there is not nearly as much as I had hoped the action that is present is solid. Especially when those badass characters like Chambers played by Samantha Win show their thing. Like I said most of the team members are likeable and you want them to make it. They are the ones that provide the fun factor by the way they behave and interact with each other. It's therefore very painful that they aren't given that much to do. It's mind-boggling really.
Overall Army of the Dead is a very disappointing affair! I couldn't even be bothered to write a review right after I had watched it. Didn't care about it at all. My advice is to keep you expectations super low and you might gain some level of entertainment. But I personally was left unfulfilled. My craving for zombie goodness wasn't satisfied.
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