Army of the Dead (2021)

Director: Zack Snyder

Starring: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera

Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is one of my favorite zombie movies. With so many zombie films out there, I was interested to see how they would make it feel original in 2021. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

I suppose Zack also decided too many zombie films out there is a matter of been there, done that, so he tried something new. Las Vegas has been evacuated due to the zombie outbreak, and is about to be nuked. However, there’s still $200 million in a casino basement. Scott Ward (Bautista) is approached by the casino owner Tanaka to retrieve the money. In exchange he will be rewarded $50 million.

So how did Zack make it different to other zombie films? He created a zombie ‘kingdom’ – so to speak, ruled by a zombie king and his zombie queen, and he even rode on a zombie horse, and has a zombie tiger guarding their ‘kingdom’. The zombies have feelings, emotions, and can think and love – and the queen is pregnant!! Ok, whoa, everything we’ve come to learn and understand about zombies has just been thrown out the window. I mean, what the bloody hell!?!

Despite this new preposterous zombie behavior, the film also gets sidetracked too easily by personal issues, hence the long running time. I also found it a bit slow moving. Yes, there are a number of amazing scenes – like the opening scene and the casino attack scene near the end – but too few and far between to keep me glued to the screen. Furthermore, there were so many cliches – like the characters and their actions. And off course there would be a hand to hand combat scene (with a zombie). I mean this is Hollywood, after all. But why would the zombie fight instead of bite? It makes no sense. Oh, speaking of sense. The zombie even has the common sense to wear a helmet!!!

The ending wasn’t bad, despite being heavily cliched. Why does the main actors always take long to turn once bitten by a zombie, when all the others turn almost immediately? Hmmm, for convenience purpose, I suppose. Did I enjoy the film? In a way, yes. Did I enjoy it enough to watch it again? Sadly, no. Once is enough.

Would I watch it again? No.