After seeing so many bad zombie movies in recent years, Army of the Dead is a sight for sore eyes. Zombieland 2: Double Tap turned out to be just a decent flick with little charm or charisma that the original had and the rest of the entries were pretty bad. Actually, there hasn’t been a good English-speaking zombie movie since the flood of 2015. I say English-speaking because we had a lot of phenomenal Asian zombie movies and television shows like Kingdom, Rampart or Train to Busan. And I say the flood of 2015 because this was the year that we had to opportunity to watch Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Dead Rising: Watchtower, Freaks of Nature and legendary New Zeeeeland zombie flick Deathgasm.
Directed by none other than Zack Snyder whose debut movie was the 2004 juicy remake of Dawn of the Dead, Army of the Dead is now in post-production and is set to premiere on Netflix on 05/21/2021, most likely in December. I know that some people don’t like Zack’s flashy style and a bit over-the-top action, but I love it! 300, Watchmen and even Sucker Punch were all very entertaining at the very least, with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole in its own league. Zack’s been busy these past few years working on a couple of comic-book adaptations like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, so it’s nice to see him going back to basics. Although, Army of the Dead promises to be a bit more complicated than standard-issue zombie flick, something that could turn out to be a huge plus or it could ruin the movie.
So, what’s this movie about? It follows a group of mercenaries living in a post-apocalyptic world filled with flesh-eating zombies as they are trying to pull off a big heist in Las Vegas. The first thought in my head, after braainnnzzz, and after hearing this plot-line was: did they just pitch an Oceans Eleven but with zombies? The movie takes place six years after the outbreak which is enough time to get those epic scenes like in World War Z. After the plague started spreading, Las Vegas was quarantined with a huge number of shipping containers that now surround the city. Where exactly did they get those containers is unclear, but I like the idea in general.
Hopefully, Zacky-boi knows what he’s doing and this will not turn out to be a dud. Netflix wasn’t involved in the creative process, with a very hands-off approach, leaving Snyder to do what he does best. This means that there will be no lame PG-Rated stuff or forced changes to the story to make it more “clean” and “watchable”, a trend that has plagued big movies in the recent years. The script for this movie has been floating around since 2008 and contained explicit scenes of zombie rape, humans giving birth to human/zombie mutants (I guess they are technically zombies). However, all of that was scrapped (Not because of Netflix) and Snyder decided to go in a different direction while remaining true to the carnage he once envisioned.
In an interview she gave for Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, Samantha Win (stunts) mentioned long takes and UFC fighters, both of which are great news. I for one enjoy in long takes and when done properly, like in the Raid, they can do wonders for pacing and overall vibe of the movie. So, long takes involving UFC fighters and a lot of stunts/actors sound really juicy and we’ll leave it at that.
Starring Dave Bautista, Ana de la Reguera, Hiroyuki Sanada, Theo Rossi, Omari Hardwick and Garret Dillahunt, Army of the Dead seems to be one of those Dirty Dozen movies where a group of hardened veterans tries to finish a very difficult mission. If you’re looking for something similar, I recommend you check out our wide selection of great zombie movies. One of the movies you will find there is Outpost, starring Ray Stevenson where a group of mercenaries decides to take a job of exploring an abandoned WWII bunker.
