There was excitement when it was revealed that Army of the Dead would see Zack Snyder returning to the horror sub-genre which launched his career. What started as an escapist zombie/heist movie in Las Vegas soon devolves into a routine action movie. Its few, fun, but superficial surprises are quickly forgotten in favor of the grimness of the post-Walking Dead era.The Army of the Deads' opening credits show a darkly funny and ironic zombie adventure set in Sin City. It also includes all the background and world-building needed. We are treated to a Richard Cheese cover and Allison Crowe rendition of "Viva Las Vegas" and see the zombies rapidly overtake the town. Every Vegas fixture, from Elvis impersonator to showgirls eating tourists, is seen as they succumb to the army of the dead. It's a joy, and offers everything you would expect to see in a movie about a zombie heist set in Vegas. The film's sequel, Army of the Dead, is not as good as the opening. It feels more like Snyder in chains than the four-hour Snyder Cut of Justice League. You can see everything you like or dislike about Snyder's direction style here. There is the intense action and gore shots as well as the slow-motion that can sometimes make the film feel boring and repetitive. Poor dialogue that sounds almost like someone who has just seen Aliens and only remembered the one-liners. Also, sudden attempts to force emotional connections with characters before they die. The movie is still funny when it works. Snyder's dark, deadpan humor is especially effective here. This is.The Best Horror Movies on Netflix 40IMAGESLoadingLoadingFormer merc Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), is approached by Bly Tanaka, Hiroyuki Sanada, with an offer to escape from his zombie-flipping and post-zombie-war life. He will smuggle $200 million from a casino before Vegas is nuked. The President thought that nuking would be cool and patriotic on the Fourth of July. The "putting the crew together" section of the film is hilarious. It features a lot of "you son of a bitch," as Scott introduces us to his friends Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), Vanderohe ("Omari Hardwick) and Peters (a scene-stealing Tig Notaro who digitally replaced Chris D'Elia). Although most characters are superficial and underdeveloped, Vanderohe and Dieter (Matthias Schweighfer), are hilarious when they are together. It feels almost like a spiritual sequel to Romero's Land of the Dead. At other times it also feels like the closest thing to an actual adaptation of the last portions of the novel I Am Legend. While there are still regular zombies in the film, they also coexist alongside fast zombies and strangely evolved "alphas," which have a blueish, robotic appearance and are far more intelligent than regular ones. There's also the cool looking zombie tiger in the trailer. The movie's zombie lore, especially the one about the leader of the Zombies, deserves an entire sequel or spinoff to examine the implications. There is an animated prequel and a live action movie. The problem is that Snyder, Joby Harold and Shay Hatten are not interested in the plot's many complexities beyond a wink to the audience to show how clever it is. Although some of the mythology questions can be answered in the follow-ups, it doesn't adequately explain the film's lazy allegory about the southern border detention centres.
