Today’s quick review: Army of the Dead. Years after zombies overran Las Vegas, a rich benefactor (Hiroyuki Sanada) hires Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a survivor of the incident, to recover $200 million left in the vault of one of the casinos. Ward assembles a team of specialists and sneaks into the city. But the mission hits a snag when his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) tags along to find a friend who went missing.
Army of the Dead is a zombie action movie directed by Zack Snyder. The movie follows a team of criminals on a dangerous casino heist in the heart of a zombie-infested city. Army of the Dead shows off Snyder’s directorial flair, blending gory action with stylized camerawork and a carefully chosen soundtrack. Although the movie more than delivers on action and plot, the way its story unfolds may not be satisfying to everybody.
Army of the Dead has a large cast that it uses well. The members of Ward’s crew come from all walks of life, and each one has a small but important role to play in the trajectory of the heist. Many of the characters bring their own subplots with them. Between these and the unlucky breaks the thieves catch along the way, the movie is never short on things to do.
The drawback of this approach is that the movie is somewhat bloated. The lengthy setup and stylized action pad the run time considerably, and trying to track so many characters at once makes the story feel unfocused. The novel aspects of the setting are also a mixed bag. Zeus (Richard Cetrone), the intelligent leader of the zombies, makes for an interesting villain in theory, but in practice he is not different enough from other zombies.
Army of the Dead will appeal strongly to some viewers and leave others cold. The stylization, the quirky cast, the intense action, and the elaborate heist all give the movie plenty of substance, at least as far as the genre goes. However, the drawn-out pace of the story and the lack of a clear crescendo keep the movie from fully achieving its goals. Zombie action fans will want to check it out. Anyone else should approach with caution.
For a more focused zombie action movie from the same director, try the remake of Dawn of the Dead. For another zombie action movie set in Las Vegas, try Resident Evil: Extinction. For a zombie comedy with even more stylistic flourishes, try Zombieland.
[5.8 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993840/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for an interesting plot, lots of action, and some structural issues.