Review: Zack Snyder’s ARMY OF THE DEAD is an Ambitious Horror/Action Hybrid That Mixes Up the Zombie Formula

It’s been nearly 17 years since Zack Snyder last dipped his toes into zombie-centric waters with his brilliant Dawn of the Dead remake, but now he’s back, and this time, he’s taking on hordes of the undead who stand in the way of an ambitious group heist in an abandoned but overrun Las Vegas teeming with flesh eaters for Army of Dead. Led by the ever-charismatic Dave Bautista and featuring a ton of other notable talents, including Hiroyuki Sanada, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Garret Dillahunt, Theo Rossi, Samantha Win, Tig Notaro, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ella Purnell, Raúl Castillo, and Nora Arnezeder, Army of the Dead is unlike pretty much any other zombie movie I’ve seen before. Snyder takes some huge risks here, and that reaps some huge rewards. The film does end up suffering from a few missteps though (more on that later), but as a whole, Army of the Dead is a brutally fun (and sometimes sad) horror hybrid that effectively proves there are still ways of making zombies unique and interesting, which, in a day and age when most genre fans feel like they’ve already seen it all, is no easy feat by any means.

Oh, and there’s a zombie tiger named Valentine in Army of the Dead that’s totally badass, too.

If you’ve seen the trailer of AotD, then you probably know the setup: zombies have overtaken the city of Las Vegas, and the area ends up being permanently closed off from those who remain unscathed by the outbreak. Life moves on for the survivors just outside of Vegas, including the former-mercenary-turned-griddle-cook Scott Ward (Bautista), who just wants to open up a food truck and live his life. That all changes after one meeting with the mysterious businessman by the name of Hunter Bly (Sanada), who makes Scott an offer he can't refuse—gather a team to break into a vault in Las Vegas containing $200 million, and if they are successful, the survivors get to keep $50 million for their efforts. But because this is a zombie action movie, that is a very big “if.”

Beyond that, there are several other storylines going on in Army of the Dead, too, including Scott trying to reconcile with his daughter Kate (Purnell), Tanaka’s underhanded right-hand man Martin (Dillahunt), who has his own agenda during the mission, a buddy cop adventure between the unlikely duo of Dieter (Schweighöfer) and Vanderohe (Hardwick), and more. What’s amazing is that all of that is just on the human side of things—the zombies themselves even have their own storylines, too, which is something I haven’t really seen since Warm Bodies came out in 2013 (but Snyder goes much bigger with AotD).

And truth be told, I’d rather watch a movie that almost feels too invested in its characters than one that just introduces them to us, only to have them end up as chew toys for zombies without any sort of characterization to their roles whatsoever. So yeah—there is definitely a lot going on in Army of the Dead, which is part of the reason why the film’s running time clocks in at nearly two and a half hours. But even though the film gets a little too busy for its own good at certain moments (especially its third act), it’s evident that character is key for Snyder, and you can tell that he really relishes being able to work with such a large ensemble, where he makes sure to give all of his actors for AotD their respective moments in the spotlight. And I can’t be mad at that.

As mentioned, Army of the Dead looks to blaze its own unique trail in the well-trodden territory of cinematic zombies and for the most part, it succeeds. These undead are quite a bit smarter than the brain eaters we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. They have a social hierarchy, complete with a leader by the name of Zeus (Rich Cetrone), who also happens to be Patient Zero in the Vegas zombie outbreak. And I won’t give away too much as to just how all of that unfolds exactly, but the opening scene as well as the hilarious opening credits for Army of the Dead show us just how quickly the undead can make their way through a city like Las Vegas, leaving thousands and thousands of the infected shambling about in its wake.

That being said, there are a few interesting choices that Snyder makes when it comes to establishing his zombie mythology in AotD, and even though they are definitely decisions that I would define as bold, there are a few that don’t really make a whole lot of sense, and those elements detract from some of the other cool stuff that he incorporates into his new take on the undead. So, while I will always appreciate someone who swings for the fences when they’re making a movie, I do wish Snyder had streamlined his approach to the zombies of Army of the Dead all the same, because it might have made the creatures even more effective villains overall.

Visually, Army of the Dead for the most part takes place during daylight hours (and we do get quite a few interior sequences as well that lean into the opulent nature of the narrative’s locale), which means that Snyder isn’t able to rely on the dark as a tool to create tension for his latest. AotD’s often sun-drenched palette feels perfectly in line with the Las Vegas experience, though, and I do think it was pretty ballsy for Snyder to take this direction with the film’s overall look, because there’s nowhere to hide when it’s daylight—but there’s nothing that really needs hiding here, either. I do think because Army of the Dead is a bit more focused on the action than it is concerned with the horror of the situation at the heart of its story (which makes it feel like the reverse of Dawn of the Dead), this choice does make sense. Admittedly, I guess I was hoping for a few scenes that would have quickened this genre fan’s pulse a bit, but AotD sets out with its own action-oriented agenda, and in that regard, it does succeed.

The issues that felt like it bogged AotD down were whenever the script ventured into melodramatic territory, specifically in the storyline between Bautista and Purnell’s characters. Don’t get me wrong—their performances in Army of the Dead were great, and I enjoyed them both immensely, but the drama between their characters feels a bit forced and even when the characters are talking through their issues, I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed by the reveals involving both of them. It’s a shame because, as I said, I adore both Bautista and Purnell’s performances, but the conflict that’s shared between their characters feels wholly unnecessary, considering everything else going on in the film.

And even though I think that Army of the Dead could have probably used one more pass on its script that would have really benefited Snyder’s ambitious vision that’s on display here, there are still plenty of aspects that work well in Army of the Dead, making it an engrossing and a truly unexpected thrill ride that dares to mix things up with the tried-and-true zombie formula we’re all too familiar with these days. Throughout his career, Snyder has made several other boldly grandiose projects that ended up feeling a bit unwieldy at times, narratively speaking. But I’m someone who will always be on board to watch filmmakers who put in “too much” effort rather than those directors out there who play it safe, hoping to appeal to the masses while making the easiest possible choices you can as a visual storyteller. Snyder may not make “perfect” movies, but perfection is highly overrated in my book, and I’ll take entertaining over perfect any day of the week.

Movie Score: 3.5/5