Army of the Dead

Snyder’s best movie since his debut, the zombie film “Dawn Of The Dead” (2014), Army Of The Dead is tremendously compelling and deftly navigates a lot of different tones, even if it quickly leaves more interesting ones behind. Largely captivating and thrilling, for all is gore, darkly twisted comedy, and delicious tension— surely something satisfied audiences will walk away with—there’s also a minor but palatable sense of loss and melancholy. One that echoes the hardships of the pandemic age and ruthless American capitalism and gives the film some socio-political edge.

Snyder’s momentum starts to lose steam around the 90-minute mark, and there are too many kooky concepts left frustratingly unexplored. But as a showcase for Snyder’s deft command of action and ink-black sense of humor, Army of the Dead is an exciting piece of brain-chewing fun.

There’s enough gore, mayhem, and decay in Army of the Dead to make for a satisfying zombie-movie experience, and while it’s the best film Snyder has made since his last “of the Dead,” it’s also one that continually hints at the more satisfying work it might have been.

Snyder is trying to do so much here that the whole thing practically collapses under its own weight, a victim of its own attempt at bombast and visual iconoclasm.

There’s a certain fun to be had in Army of the Dead, but it’s the mindless, ugly fun that you wake up the next day regretting. Come to think of it, it’s kind of like a trip to Las Vegas.

While this might represent a diverting lark in its dizzying combination of movie conventions, this is another one of those instances where what happens in Vegas probably should stay there.

The film’s masterful prologue writes a check that the remainder of this very long, very indulgent film labors mightily to cash.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It's hard to pinpoint why this isn't a better film. It has all the elements, well paced, beautifully made, exciting, gory and some original elements but it all comes together to fall very short of Dawn of the Dead (2004) and the original Romero trilogy. It even falls short of Land of the Dead (2005) which it actually feels quite similar to. Thankfully it is vastly better than the latter Romero of the dead films. So it starts with a really good opening scene, beautiful and engaging, so beautiful. The ending is also excellent. The production quality is incredibly high with great music, cinematography, effects and sound design. So what is wrong with this film? For me the biggest issue was the lead character and the casting choice. I get that he had to be big for the story but he's the character and the way he's played is so uncharismatic and unengaging that you're not invested in their plight, the lead character should do the opposite. None of the characters are nice people so I didn't find myself engaged in their survival. Sometimes the film is a little boring and I think that's because it is a bit pretentious like the director didn't want to make another zombie film. I appreciate how they tried to expand zombie lore but ultimately I didn't like the expansion, it should be about the people and not the zombies evolving. Overall it's hard to say exactly why I didn't like this more, it has some great elements and ideas but it falls flatter than it should because it doesn't have a soul.

All the crew, is great, except the person who supposedly, is the most important in this movie. It's very entertainment at first, but it gets boring at the end.

Probably the worst Zack Snyder film I have seen, and its almost 3hrs so it does have time to tell the story, its just horrible. Its a real shame because the visuals and some of the action scenes are great but the characters motives, what they do and say its just embarrising. What a shame.

Zack Snyder avait déjà fait son « Armée des Morts » il y a bien longtemps (déjà) avec beaucoup moins… de moyens et une durée bien plus contenue (un peu plus d’une heure et demi) et le résultat était bien plus concluant que ce nouvel épisode de deux plombes et demi. La faute à ce scénario (ils s’y sont mis à trois, pourtant…) qui multiplie les incohérences à n’en plus finir et des psychodrames de guimauve à deux balles, des chansonnettes à la con qui vrillent les nerfs (et les oreilles) ainsi que des personnages qui sont autant de clichés et/ou de têtes à claques… sauf bien entendu cette bien jolie blonde que l’on avait déjà vue quelque part… oui, dans le falot et navrant Angélique de 2013 : Nora Arnezeder (et elle est française !). C’est donc la seule qui s’en sort ici (avec le second couteau Garret Dillahunt) car tous les autres sont nuls à chier. Malgré tout, quelques bons moments (sanguinolents…) sont encore de la partie ici et là en dépit d’une réalisation pas toujours exemplaire, hélas. On peut constater quelques fulgurances du grand spectacle qu’on pouvait admirer dans « 300 »… mais trop rarement… hélas ! Preuve s’il en est que s’ils avaient revu leurs petites prétentions de prétentieux qui veulent se la jouer, les scénaristes auraient sniffé moins de rails et de fait, auraient moins fait de la merde. On a donc là un sacré gâchis… d’effets spéciaux en somme !