Army of the Dead

Army of the dead begins as though it's going to be a fun B movie. 2 exchanges in different vehicles leads to disaster which leads to terror which leads to a fun title sequence in which we see a garish Las Vegas overrun by Zombies. This title sequence packs in a lot of story; in fact, in packs in about 90% of the movie's story.

After that a bunch of people decide to go into Zombie-infested Vegas to get some loose cash, which is what the rest of the movie is. In spite of the absence of story, there's still a long chunk of time between the credits and the action which is filled with the strikingly dull enlisting of cannon fodder.

You might have a few questions as the movie begins. Are the protagonists being mislead by the billionaire who puts this in place? Is the soldier they're forced to take along untrustworthy? Will someone sacrifice themselves for others even though they probably could have saved themselves as well? Will someone risk everyone's lives on a side mission? Will things suddenly become way more urgent? Will the characters be too undeveloped for you to care about them or their mission? Will this all result because no one in the movie even considered the possibility that things weren't what they seem? Will you be unsurprised at the "surprise" ending?

If you don't know the answer to any of these questions then you've never seen a movie before and might like this one. Otherwise...

There's little attempt to bring these characters to life except in several tediously emotional conversations between two characters you don't care about.

Yes, there are some good moments here and there. The aforementioned opening credits. Zombie animals. A quiet scene with an unquiet finale. Occasional moments of good action or suspense. But it all gets suffocated by the length, the slack moments, the predictability, the stupidity, and the high "who cares" quotient.

Zack Snyder is a hit or miss director, but normally his failures are from pretention and hubris. This time he didn't fail because he was too ambitious, but because he seemingly had no ambitions at all.

2.5 hours of this is way too much. Dumb conversations unfunny jokes and bad acting. Zavk Snyder, why man?

A number of reviewers have already taken shots at the huge plot holes and ridiculous setup of this movie; I share in both their criticism and disappointment. If you happen to care about such lofty things like coherent storytelling or character development, I'd wait to watch this lazy entry into the zombie genre until you're either drunk or stoned to overlook its many problems.

And while Zack may have gotten some kind of personal thrill out of manning every major job in this project, the outcome has clearly suffered as a result. What could have been an otherwise outstanding zombie action flick, given proper attention to detail and an avoidance of lazy tropes, is instead no more than another sparkly yet mediocre piece of cookie-cutter movie confection.

The fact that more movie goers aren't outraged by the significant and apparently permanent drop in quality/intelligence of most these blockbuster Hollywood productions is what bewilders me. Apparently, just shoveling an old retread of a story into a production-line CGI machine is enough to satisfy most of today's audience, who blithely flock to, praise, and subsidize whatever vapid POS comes out. Are super hero action scenes really all we're after anymore? Isn't it time to demand more for your entertainment dollar?

I'm not usually a fan of Zack Snyder's movies, but I do enjoy his visuals from time to time - maybe he should just stick to directing and leave the writing to those who know how to actually write a good movie with some interesting characters because this movie is just downright bad.

I felt the urge to stop watching during that extremely long intro credits montage, but felt that wouldn't be fair. So I kept watching. The urge never went away. What a lame movie. Just terrible. I should have quit at the beginning.