Mark Reviews Movies: ARMY OF THE DEAD

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 13, 2021

Like a cigar, zombies can represent something else, but sometimes, they're just zombies. The latter is mostly the case in Army of the Dead, a hybrid of horror, action, and a heist story, in which a team of variously troubled misfits try to retrieve about $200 million from the vault of a Las Vegas casino. The good news for the thieves is that the casino's security is non-existent. The bad news is that's because the entire city has become a walled-off domain for hordes upon hordes of zombies.

The premise is clever, and co-screenwriter/cinematographer/director Zack Snyder doesn't attempt to treat the setup with any kind of seriousness. Despite some of the rather obvious imagery (a great, impromptu wall constructed by the government) and the loaded setting (one of the gambling capitals of the world), Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Joby Harold's screenplay doesn't set out to make some subversive political statement or commentary about humanity, as has so often been the case since zombie movies—either with this title structure or without it—began. This one is about the gimmick, the violence, the many obstacles standing in the team's way, and a collection of big personalities clashing and cracking jokes in between sequences of slaughtering zombies.

The film also, though, has a bit of a human backbone supporting all of this carnage. This story isn't set in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. That happened somewhere in between the prologue, in which a pair of feisty newlyweds crash head-first into a military convoy carrying a super-fast and super-strong zombie, and the start of the actual plot, after the zombie threat has been contained to the Vegas city limits.

We see slow-motion vignettes of that disaster during the opening credits, as the characters we'll eventually get to know a bit better fight their way through zombies, avoid military bombings, and watch a lot of people die and/or become undead. In between the bloody action, one of the characters will pause in front of a screen, as if they're having a portrait taken, and hold up something of the life they once had.

Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), our central broken bad-ass among the cast, holds a framed photo of his family, which will be shattered by the time Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) asks him to steal the now tax-free cash from the business magnate's own casino. Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) holds a similar photo, and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), whose weapon of choice is a handheld power-saw, holds of photo of himself receiving a master's degree in philosophy.

Admittedly, this isn't much, but it is, importantly, something—an underlying feeling of regret, grief, and guilt over what was and what could have been. The film may be an over-the-top concoction of assorted genres, extremely bloody violence, and an increasing sense of spectacle, but it also, somehow, possesses just enough of a wounded, sorrowful heart to give the excess a sense of purpose. It's not too much, obviously. There is, after all, a zombie guard tiger—in that it guards the zombies and is one itself—in this film.

Scott, who was given a few government awards for his bravery and is now a short-order cook at a diner, is recruited by Tanaka to get the money from the casino vault, in exchange for $50 million to be divided among Scott's team. There is one significant hitch: In less than two days, the government has scheduled the city to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb (The movie's most blatant satire comes when we learn that blast is planned for the 4th of July and that the President believes that's "really kind of patriotic, if you think about it").

He assembles Maria and Vanderohe, as well as online zombie-killing star Guzman (Raúl Castillo), no-nonsense helicopter pilot Peters (Tig Notaro), and master locksmith Dieter (Mathhias Schweighöfer). To get into Vegas, Scott has to momentarily reconcile with his good-hearted daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), whom he assumes is mad at him for having to kill her zombified mother, and enlist the help of Lilly (Nora Arnezeder), a coyote who helps refugees living just outside the wall return to the city for stray cash. Tanaka's right-hand man Martin (Garret Dillahunt) tags along, making sure all goes right and obviously hiding a secret agenda.

The plot is, well, almost certainly what anyone would expect from each of the script's major story elements. The team has to avoid zombies or shoot them when the creatures start to attack. A couple of the less notable characters are here as early fodder, and each surviving member gets to work on his or her part of the plan. Dave and Kate start the generator. Peters fuels the helicopter so there's way out before the nuclear strike. Martin enlists Lilly's assistance to perform his secret mission, and Vanderohe helps Dieter get to the vault, without being killed by the assorted booby traps leading up to it.

In terms of the zombies, there are some crafty bits, such as the aforementioned zombie tiger and the fact the zombies are more intelligent than we might anticipate. They've established a kingdom of sorts under the rule of a caped king (played by Richard Cetrone), who eventually takes the intruders' presence personally.

In terms of the human side, Snyder does take some time with these characters to bond, share their sense of feeling lost, and realize how much they have come to regret. Bautista, arguably the best of the current string of action stars (and a very fine actor beyond that label), admirably serves as the film's tough but broken center (Note how he doesn't let a zombie attack interrupt the character's anguish in one scene). Army of the Dead is just enough about people dealing with the aftermath of crisis—even if the film really is just about zombies.

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