While we’re all anxiously awaiting more big-screen movie releases in the upcoming months, there is still some great content coming out on streaming services. We’re all familiar with the Marvel series on Disney Plus, along with the recent release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max. If you’re a Zack Snyder fan, you might be interested in another film he just released on Netflix - Army of the Dead.
What’s it About?
Sometimes a movie title leaves you wondering what the film is actually about. Definitely not the case here. This is Army of the Dead is very much the zombie movie that the title suggests. Imagine a world where a soldier infected with a zombie virus (possibly from a military experiment) escapes from a military convoy near Las Vegas. After infecting various soldiers from the convoy, the zombies descend upon Sin City. The inevitable outbreak in Vegas is shown in the movie intro, where we watch casinos being overrun by zombie showgirls and Elvis impersonators. We meet a group of mercenary-style heroes who are helping to rescue people from the city as the military builds a massive wall around the city, from shipping containers. This all sets up the actual story the film will cover.
Merging Genres
The film skips ahead in time a bit, where we meet one of those mercenary heroes (Dave Bautista) working in a roadside diner. He is approached by a wealthy/sketchy individual with an offer that our hero can’t refuse. Vegas is scheduled to have a tactical nuke dropped on the site to eradicate the zombie virus. But, because the city was evacuated to quickly, there is plenty of now untraceable cash locked up in casino vaults just waiting for an industrious crew to liberate. One safe, in particular, is holding a few hundred million dollars, if someone can just get in and out with it before the bombs go off.
Bautista brings together a band of misfits to take on the heist caper (think Oceans 11, 12, etc.), but also fight their way through that aforementioned army of zombies (like the marines from Aliens). The crew comes together and makes their way into the decimated Las Vegas to discover that most of the ‘shambler’ style zombies are all pretty much just dust and bones, but there is a second type of zombie that has thrived. These ‘fast zombies’ (World War Z, 28 Days Later, etc.) are also smarter, can communicate, and seem to follow a leader.
There are numerous scenes of zombie mayhem, a bank vault break-in, doublecrosses, and of course the moment when it all goes terribly wrong, leading to the action-packed conclusion.
The Cast
Dave Bautista is his usual engaging self as the expected man of action, who is also entirely devoted to helping his estranged daughter. The rest of the cast includes fun if stereotypical, performances as the funny and eccentric safecracker, the snarky helicopter pilot, Bautista’s two former military/mercenary partners (the muscle), the shadowy CIA/corporate security guy, a wily smuggler, a couple of YouTube zombie hunters, and Bautista’s principled daughter. The actors are all largely fun to watch, but this movie isn’t about the performances. It’s about a lot of zombie carnage and it delivers.
The Verdict
Do you enjoy watching action-packed zombie movies? If the answer is yes - then add this flick to your My List right now. You won’t regret it. But, if zombie mayhem isn’t your cup of tea, you can definitely pass on this one.
