Snyder's Army of the Dead (Netflix 2021)

[MinionZombie]

I didn't get as much 'dumb fun' out of this movie as I was hoping for. There were just too many utterly stupid moments, or parts that lacked any sense of internal logic. It doesn't have to make sense according to real world rules, but it has to make sense in it's own world - yet rarely does. Also - the zombie apocalypse was caused by ... ... a blowjob? I mean, essentially, right? That truck would have flattened that shitty old car. Why have a quarantine camp literally right next door - like right next door - to the Vegas containment area?! And why the total lack of security, it seems? You've got this walled off area filled with beings capable of spreading an extremely deadly virus, and yet the security seems to be ... ... what? All we get is one camp guard who's going around abusing everyone. You would think that you'd want full blown guard towers and CCTV overseeing the entire quarantine zone. How did they even build that shipping container wall anyway? Just flinging them down with bizarre amounts of accuracy (that last one slides in like a glove). How did they contain a horde that large for long enough to build that wall? Is this supposed to be an actual sequel to 2004's Dawn of the Dead or not? Because if it is, it doesn't make any sense. There was no distinction between the zombies in the 2004 film - they were all just running raptors - but here we've got super smart ones who are direct descendants from the King zombie, and then you've got shamblers, but you've also got normal runny/jumpy ones zipping around all over the shop? The rules of the game don't make a lot of sense and that was frustrating throughout the film. You'd get really cool moments - like the zombies getting mulched by a mounted .50 cal, or the big dude with that concrete saw thing absolutely raging and slicing through the dead, or the big scene with the zombie tiger later on, or the large scale shots in the opening credits ... but there were just too many things that made no sense, or lacked internal logic, or were just stupid and irritating. They generally did a decent job of pasting in Tig Notaro (to replace Chris D'Elia), but certain shots looked terrible, however that character was so annoying - the constant smoking around fuel was intensely moronic. No, it's not 'cool', it's wilfully dangerous and endangers everyone in her vicinity. Also, yep, the dialogue was so overwritten and clunky (e.g. the lame fake-out chopper moment nearer the end). The whole thing with people going into Vegas to steal from slot machines to earn money to buy their way out of the camp didn't make a whole lotta sense either. Surely you'd have someone who had taken that on as a job, and would be doing it for them - as a trained professional - in exchange for a percentage? Why were the people being kept in that camp for all that time? They haven't turned into zombies, there's no medical basis for that happening, so why keep them trapped there? Surely, also, they're actual American citizens - so constitutionally, surely, it doesn't make any sense either. Indeed, the whole 'border wall' commentary was scattered and made little impact to the point that I wondered what the point really was. It just sucked up running time - it's 50 minutes before the team even enter the containment zone!!! There were some pretty sweet gore moments, but weirdly not enough for a movie this friggin' long. I liked the scale of it, but it was so messy and clunky and ill thought out, and the characters making obviously dumb decisions irritated the hell out of me that it genuinely spoiled the movie for me. Like I say, there were bits that were fun and enjoyable, but there was too much junk in there. The characterisation was not good either - I can't remember a single name from the movie, and cared very little for anyone in the movie. You get a brisk bit of 'development' and then suddenly they're dead. What? Why should I care? And what was with those opening titles? The text was awful, like really bad. The font was like some crap a 12 year old would slap on a YouTube video - the text was jagged as hell and looked so amateurish. Bizarre!!! I had a lot of problems with the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, but overall I think that's the better movie out of the two!

[Neil]

Any explanation for the apparent inconsistency in how the zombies move? The preview clip showed some of them like marathon runners, while others just walked, even when pursuing humans. Yes.. Sort of... But no explanation for characters bizarre behaviour. Deadly impending doom is seemingly no reason to simply relax, and not take your continued existence very seriously any more... Couple of times I was literally talking to the telly asking the characters why they were now behaving the way they were? It's dog girl from Dawn of the Dead on steroids! Worth a watch, has some nice parts, but with VERY LOW expectations...

[Moon Knight]

Definitely has it’s moments, both good and terrible. Like mentioned before, the daughter running off nonsense. The concept really isn’t that bad, just wish it was handled a bit better. I really did enjoy the zombie clan. However, they should’ve used a different vocal for them. That dinosaur shit should be abolished from cinema. I dug the king and queen. No Ken Foree appearance. I’m sad.

[MinionZombie]

Speaking of the King and Queen...   Really - the zombie baby thing again? So these two zombies, at some point, went to the bone zone together and conceived an Alpha Zombie baby? Sheesh. Also - yes - the vocals were ridiculous. Infected or not, the human vocal chords aren't capable of those sounds. It was all a mixture of tigers and clucking and all sorts of nonsense. Why the hell do filmmakers persist with this junk? All that screeching and such ... at least Big Daddy in Land of the Dead was what the actor was projecting himself, not some coked-up sound designer's bullshit mish-mash. There's a half hour making-of for it on Netflix, so I'll have a squizz at that out of interest. This could have been so much better if it had been leaner and meaner, cut all the stupid shit out, and dropped the half-assed commentary. Romero did commentary and knew what to do with it, even when he got a bit blunt, but at least he knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it (and what he said was cogent and considered), whereas Snyder's attempts here show up his screenwriting weaknesses. He's a great visual stylist, which is his strong suit, so he should try and stick with that and let someone who knows what they're doing tackle the screenwriting duties - it's one of the most important aspects, if not the most important. The attempts at deeper thought were a bit cringe-inducing as well - what was the point in all that silly jibberish with the dead members of a previous team? For one, they were so rotten that it looked like they'd been there for years (despite being in a sealed environment), and the whole thing with them 'possibly being them' was utterly pointless and just confusing as to why it was even included. So you just so happened to have multiple teams with different people wearing the same necklace or hawaiian shirt? What? All that sort of junk should have been thrown out at script stage, because it just dragged the running time. I mean, really, FIFTY minutes before the team enter Vegas?! At that point you're already at least twenty minutes behind schedule. It was trying to cram too much in - ultimately you don't give a shit about the woman who goes missing in Vegas getting slot machine money so she can escape. She's in like two scenes and then vanishes for almost the rest of the movie, and the daughter ... ... yeah ... ... it's Mr Chips the dog all over again. A very sloppy mess with woeful characterisation, but a few cool moments and plenty of visual flair.

[Neil]

And then there's the entire premise of the story?   So given the 'queens head would do', why not just leave as soon as you had it? Why risk your life going further and further into Vegas, doing more and more convoluted things, rather than just turning around, and walking out the way you came in, with the head?

[MinionZombie]

And then there's the entire premise of the story?   So given the 'queens head would do', why not just leave as soon as you had it? Why risk your life going further and further into Vegas, doing more and more convoluted things, rather than just turning around, and walking out the way you came in, with the head? Hmmm...   Well, it's the secret mission of Dillahunt's character, who needs the cover I suppose ... and I'm assuming he wasn't expecting the Queen to just come out into the open like that once let alone twice ... and they'd figure that 'a shitload of money' is enough to convince a bunch of people to raid Vegas (which, evidently, it was, considering how easily all but one single person was convinced to go along) ... so it'd have to be an undercover side mission and I guess any extra cash would be a bonus to the Japanese guy who hired them, although as they said, the head would be worth a lot more than that ... ... so then why not just hire any old no-nonsense mercenaries to specifically go in for the head of the Queen, mercenaries who wouldn't have any qualms about it. Clearly the whole 'vault heist' was always the cover plan as we saw another failed team down there. Yeah, it's one of those clunky movies that doesn't hold up to even the lightest scrutiny in terms of it's characterisation or plotting. It's all very surface level. Just think about any one aspect for longer than a minute and it starts crumbling under the weight of its own lack of internal logic. Very irksome! **ADDTIONAL** I will say that I did enjoy the 'zombie canary' scene where they sent a shambler towards the vault to trigger the booby traps. That was quite good fun, even though it did sit a bit uneasily with the tone of a lot of the rest of the film. Indeed, the tone was a little awkward. There's serious bits and political bits and goofy bits, but it rarely ever gels - meanwhile, Zombieland managed to craft a world with internal logic that also expertly weaved a narrow path through moments of total comedic chaos and shockingly heartfelt reveals. I remember being stunned how deftly Zombieland was able to navigate those waters. AOTD, on the other hand, flails around like the Kintner boy. There were also numerous references to Aliens ... particularly the Vasquez-alike character. Weird, though, that she was only one of two who had never killed a zombie before, and yet she turns into a total headshotting badass almost immediately after also expertly knifing a bunch of shamblers in the head. Then you've got the annoying daughter - a quarantine camp volunteer who has, presumably, never held a gun before, popping over headshot after headshot after headshot on a bunch of bullet-dodging runners! Eh?!

[paranoid101]

Well that was errrr dumb and way too long, not great not terrible just meh. Just too many dumb and stupid bits, still it was quite good special effects to fully replace the helicopter pilot in movie, all her scenes were film on a green screen stage and put in later. Anyone else on here would you have rather watched the rescue mission in the open credits instead?

[EvilNed]

yeah, didn't really like that. It had both a prologue and an epilogue that could easily have been axed. The setup is dumb enough that I don't need to "see" Las Vegas being zombified. In fact, it kind of detracted. This movie tried to explain way too much but none of the explanations were any good or interesting - so it ends up just being stupid. Same goes for the villainous characters who constantly blurt out their evil plans as if this was some kind of soap opera. Man, Snyder's really not that talented.

[MinionZombie]

Anyone else on here would you have rather watched the rescue mission in the open credits instead? Kinda, yeah. I would have enjoyed a movie showing how on earth they managed to wall off that many active (and fast) zombies over that large an area, or maybe not a movie, but a short film. It reminds me of when people comment positively about the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead - they always mention those opening ten minutes, especially the credits, as being the best part of the movie - and yet again here, the opening credits were the best part. Snyder is great at visuals and bold vignettes, but he needs to step away from the screenwriting side of things and leave it to, frankly, more talented people. Writing your own material isn't the best thing for a lot of directors, and considering the amount of work you have to do as a director, that's probably for the best. There's so much that goes into writing a good script that it really does require a dedicated person for that role - it's one of the most important, if not the most important, aspects of making a movie or TV show. If the script sucks then no amount of flashy visuals will solve those inherent problems. You can certain direct a good script poorly and make it worse, and you can elevate a mediocre script with very astute direction and re-writing, but it all comes down to the words on the page at the end of the day - you have to get those right - and considering how long this movie was in development, there's really little excuse for it to have this many internal logic problems and surface level clunky characterisation. I kinda get the feel that this movie kinda wanted to be Zombieland, but failed. It tried to mix comedy and action horror, but cocked it up and could never really settle on the right tone. And let's not forget - Zombieland is a surprisingly short movie, but every second counts and it never once plods - AOTD, on the other hand, has numerous points where you end up thinking "what was the point of that?" Question:   What happened to the woman the daughter wanted to rescue? Did I miss something? She was on the chopper, which crashed, so did she die? If so - wow, that daughter character is a moron - because she spectacularly failed to do what she naiively intended to do, she got the chopper pilot killed, and she got her own father killed in the process. *slow clap*

[Neil]

Oh the daughter was a total moron no matter what. Risking everyone's lives for some ridiculous cause at the outset, and then with just tens of minutes on a rather important timer, wondering off... Dog girl 2.0

[bassman]

It was pretty much what I expected, really. Lots of flash, cool imagery, but no substance. Going in with those expectations, I was satisfied. I highly doubt I’ll ever see it again, but that initial viewing was entertaining enough. Especially for “free”. In comparison, Snyder’s Justice League is a masterpiece. Definitely the better of his two streaming releases in the past few months. Watched it a few times and it’s growing on me even more. I don’t see that happening with Army. Can’t believe Snyder doubled down on the zombie baby thing!

[Moon Knight]

It was pretty much what I expected, really. Lots of flash, cool imagery, but no substance. Going in with those expectations, I was satisfied. I highly doubt I’ll ever see it again, but that initial viewing was entertaining enough. Especially for “free”. In comparison, Snyder’s Justice League is a masterpiece. Definitely the better of his two streaming releases in the past few months. Watched it a few times and it’s growing on me even more. I don’t see that happening with Army. Can’t believe Snyder doubled down on the zombie baby thing! Exactly sums up how I feel about it!

[bassman]

Forgot to ask....did anyone else notice the robotic zombies? Glowing blue eyes and robotic entrails when shot. No joke. UFO’s are also visible at the beginning when the convoy has just left Area 51. Maybe there’s a connection. Wtf is Snyder planning for the potential sequels that he so painstakingly reminds us of throughout this thing??

[paranoid101]

Kinda, yeah. I would have enjoyed a movie showing how on earth they managed to wall off that many active (and fast) zombies over that large an area, or maybe not a movie, but a short film. It reminds me of when people comment positively about the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead - they always mention those opening ten minutes, especially the credits, as being the best part of the movie - and yet again here, the opening credits were the best part. Snyder is great at visuals and bold vignettes, but he needs to step away from the screenwriting side of things and leave it to, frankly, more talented people. Writing your own material isn't the best thing for a lot of directors, and considering the amount of work you have to do as a director, that's probably for the best. There's so much that goes into writing a good script that it really does require a dedicated person for that role - it's one of the most important, if not the most important, aspects of making a movie or TV show. If the script sucks then no amount of flashy visuals will solve those inherent problems. You can certain direct a good script poorly and make it worse, and you can elevate a mediocre script with very astute direction and re-writing, but it all comes down to the words on the page at the end of the day - you have to get those right - and considering how long this movie was in development, there's really little excuse for it to have this many internal logic problems and surface level clunky characterisation. I kinda get the feel that this movie kinda wanted to be Zombieland, but failed. It tried to mix comedy and action horror, but cocked it up and could never really settle on the right tone. And let's not forget - Zombieland is a surprisingly short movie, but every second counts and it never once plods - AOTD, on the other hand, has numerous points where you end up thinking "what was the point of that?" Question:   What happened to the woman the daughter wanted to rescue? Did I miss something? She was on the chopper, which crashed, so did she die? If so - wow, that daughter character is a moron - because she spectacularly failed to do what she naiively intended to do, she got the chopper pilot killed, and she got her own father killed in the process. *slow clap*   I had to rewind it to try and remember if the other woman even got on the chopper lol, last Time I saw her she got into the front seat, Its like the movie forgot about her at the end, guess she wasn't important after all. As for Zack Snyder his opening credits in his movies most of time they are better than the film that follows lol EG Watchmen and Dawn04, Speaking of Dawn 04 that movie was so much better then this one.

[MinionZombie]

I was wondering about that - a couple of zombie kills appeared as if there were blue/white flashes as they went down, and I thought to myself "was that a robot?" - but it was so dumb at that point that I didn't even bother rewinding to figure it out.