"Army of the Dead" pleases with a variety of monsters. And not only this

Classic zombie action

During the transport of dangerous goods, an armored van accompanied by the military gets into an accident. As a result, an alpha zombie breaks free, immediately biting everyone who gets in the way. He gets to Las Vegas and sets up an apocalypse there. To stop the spread of the virus, the authorities surround the city with containers, and in the future they even plan to blow it up with a nuclear missile.

Some time after the outbreak of the outbreak, casino owner Hunter Bly (Hiroyuki Sanada) hires former military Scott Ward (Dave Batista) for a secret mission. The man must take out more than $ 200 million from the safe in the quarantine zone.

Ward assembles a team and heads to Las Vegas. The heroes will have to confront not only the usual revived dead, but also smarter zombies. And some members of the group have their own ulterior motives for the trip.

Omari Hardwicke. Shot from the movie "Army of the Dead"

Zack Snyder offers the viewer the most traditional story imaginable: a group of mercenaries on a covert mission in a danger zone. In the 80s and 90s, such films were filmed in almost dozens. For example, you can remember the legendary "Predator" or "Aliens". And recently, similar projects have come out regularly: exactly the same plot (even with money and zombies) appears in the second "Train to Busan".

It is unlikely that the author does not have fresh ideas, but rather a sincere nostalgia for classic films. Hence, many plot assumptions. The very beginning of the story looks especially unnatural: when transporting such a dangerous cargo, they did not even insure against an accident.

What is surprising is that in his previous works, Snyder was engaged in postmodern deconstruction. He greatly changed the image of Superman in Man of Steel, and his Guardians are originally based on a comic book that turns familiar plots inside out. And in "Army of the Dead" everything is predictable: it is clear in advance that the heroes will die, and you can even guess in what order, and their relationship is as standard as possible.

Clip action

A witty production saves from platitudes. Snyder filmed this movie personally, without even inviting cameraman Larry Fong, who worked on the lion's share of his films. Therefore, the picture may not seem as pretentious as, for example, in "Sucker Punch". But the video sequence fits perfectly to the style of the tape, preserving the recognizable handwriting of the director.

Samantha Win. Shot from the movie "Army of the Dead"

The opening scene of the capture of Las Vegas, which, by the way, Netflix posted on the Internet in advance to attract attention, and then deleted, is traditionally for Snyder staged in the form of an ironic clip. And the soundtrack is the obvious song Viva Las Vegas, but in a funny parody cover version by Richard Cheese. The director often uses a similar technique: for example, Leonard Cohen's lyric track Hallelujah sounded in the Justice League trailer filled with fights and monsters.

And in the future, many scenes of battles with zombies will be staged in a clip manner. Here you can recall that Snyder once started with music videos and even shot a video for the song Desolation Row by the group My Chemical Romance.

Nora Arnezeder and Dave Batista. Shot from the movie "Army of the Dead"

The Las Vegas ambience helps to add grotesque and kitsch to the action. There will be a cool solo appearance of a mercenary, very similar to Vasquez from "Aliens", and even the inevitable battle in a helicopter. And what could be more commonplace than a fight in a casino when money is flying around? But in "Army of the Dead" this scene is exactly in its place.

An incredible variety of monsters

Zack Snyder has a special relationship with zombies. His career in big cinema began with Dawn of the Dead, a horror remake from the legendary George Romero. In the documentary Zombies in Popular Culture, the latter said, "My boys are in no hurry," implying that the danger of the living dead is not in speed, but in quantity. And Snyder was one of the first to suggest making the monsters fast: so that they do not hobble, limping on both legs, but run faster than a person.

"Army of the Dead" largely inherits the ideas of "Dawn …". There are even a few Easter eggs that fans of the director will notice. But now he finally brings the idea of the living dead to the grotesque. In addition to the crowd of walking flesh eaters, Snyder also introduces the alpha zombies: fast, organized and very smart.

Monster makeup doesn't always look believable. In some scenes, zombies inspire real horror, in others, you can only see makeup extras. Here we can only guess: is the author specifically referring to the style of old films, or the effects are simply not finalized?

But they compensate for all this with the most unexpected monsters. Only the "Nation Z", where zombie magicians came to the zombie baby, can compete with the wit of their images. Among other things in the "Army of the Dead" you will see: zombie strippers, zombie Elvis, zombie tiger, as well as an alpha zombie who arrives on a zombie horse and sobs over a zombie girlfriend.

This kind of insanity allows you not to take action too seriously.

Unreasonably long timing

All fans know that Zach Snyder loves making long films. Director's versions of his work last three or even four hours. But in most cases, this is simply necessary. The "Justice League" was very meditative and slow. And in 215 minutes "Guardians" could hardly fit Alan Moore's graphic novel.

Alas, in "Army of the Dead" the timing of two and a half hours seems just unreasonable dragging out of the scenes. The action begins with the aforementioned dynamic action game in Las Vegas. But then the heroes will meet the zombies in almost an hour of screen time. Until then, they will make plans and talk. In the main part, the plot also sags regularly. Some of the dialogue can help get the character emotional, but most take too long.

Hiroyuki Sanada and Dave Batista. Shot from the movie "Army of the Dead"

The studio did not interfere with the production of the film, so Snyder apparently left everything he saw fit in the film. Against the background of many years of hardships of the "Justice League", this seemed a big plus. But in reality, "Army of the Dead" can be painlessly reduced by 30 minutes, and the action will only benefit from this.

And the most surprising thing is that in such a long film, the author managed to criminally tell little about the heroes. Only the character of Dave Batista is really revealed, a little weaker - a couple of mercenaries, the rest remain cannon fodder. It's hard to get attached to a faceless team, and therefore any suffering or even death does not seem too tragic. This would be forgivable in an 80-90 minute fast movie, but it seems like a wasted potential for large-scale work.

If you break through the too long first act, "Army of the Dead" will delight all fans of classic action movies about mercenaries and zombies. This is a simple and very grotesque film with witty action and unusual monsters. And the understatement of the plot, it seems, will soon be compensated. It is already known that Netflix plans to build its own cinematic universe: Zack Snyder is shooting a prequel to the film, and in parallel, the platform is developing an anime series around the world of Army of the Dead.