Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead"

[Andrew NDB]

So this just hit Netflix. Like, 30 minutes ago.



Anybody gonna check it out?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

So this just hit Netflix. Like, 30 minutes ago.



Anybody gonna check it out?

I don't know if I like the concept of this one, but I've been waiting for a Dawn of the Dead follow-up for 15 years or whatever, so I'm all-in here.

[Andrew NDB]

The critics are ripping this to pieces but I liked it. Definitely rips off a ton of other movies, though... most notably Aliens. Also the "sleeping" zombies from World War Z.

[Leo656]

I'll see it eventually. I missed his first zombie movie so I figure I'd watch that before this one, even though I don't think that's "mandatory" or anything, it's just how I prefer to do it.

Kinda not a huge zombie guy. I mean, they're alright, I liked the Walking Dead video games and everything. Just not a huge fan of the movies. I feel like zombies are like vampires, in that they're a reasonably cool concept that's been completely overdone to the point where it's not cool anymore, but can occasionally still be done well enough.

[IMJ]

I enjoyed it, but I've been hyping this up in my head for months and I think I let myself down because of that a bit.

So, super mild spoilers just through context.......

I was disappointed to find out that this was not actually a sequel in any way, shape or form to Dawn of the Dead. And also, you're left not caring about the emotional beats much because every character is basically an idiot who caused their own problems. Basically, the crew were not on any kind of "noble mission", and when things go bad it's because of your traditional "idiot action" from a character so you are left not really caring about any death or emotional beat quite as much as I think they were going for. Basically every bad thing that transpires was because of an @$$hole character or idiot-move by a sympathetic character.

As for the direction they put the zombies on - it was interesting. Not bad really in any way, but did anyone else actually get an unironic "Evil Dead - Army of Darkness" vibe from this? Just an observation.

I also found out what they did with Tig Notoro's filmed scenes after I saw this, and I was surprised as hell by it. Watching the movie and not knowing, I'd never have known that she was never actually there with the cast at all. Interesting. Batista's relationship with his daughter was more irritating than tragic, but the best and most fun dynamic in the movie was between Omari Hardwick's character and the German guy - loved how that transformed and fleshed out through the flick. Also got a kick out of the "Aliens" "Vazquez" sort of beats from the Mexican chick who fights like a crazy person in the early hallway sequence.

Ultimately I liked it, but I spent months really waiting for this one and was let down by the movie's dumb plot circumstances and the fact that this had nothing to do with Snyder's first zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead". It's worth watching once. Don't know that I'll sit through it again unless it gets a sequel.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, I was gonna say... did you see the trailer? Definitely made no bones about having nothing to do with Dawn. Though it's "spiritually" similar.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Yeah, I was gonna say... did you see the trailer? Definitely made no bones about having nothing to do with Dawn. Though it's "spiritually" similar.

I think I was sort of holding out hope that they'd tie it together in the same world. Not necessarily that any actors showed up from DOTD or anything like that....

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I think I was sort of holding out hope that they'd tie it together in the same world. Not necessarily that any actors showed up from DOTD or anything like that....

I mean... it could almost be a Dawn prequel. Given the ending.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I mean... it could almost be a Dawn prequel. Given the ending.

Actually that's a good point....
But the only problems are that it ends in.... wasn't it Mexico City? And also, in this flick the entire country knows that zombies exist and have been trapped in Vegas whereas in DOTD nobody knows what is going on.

But I got excited for a second there when you posted that....

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IMJ

But the only problems are that it ends in.... wasn't it Mexico City? And also, in this flick the entire country knows that zombies exist and have been trapped in Vegas whereas in DOTD nobody knows what is going on.

Gah. That's true. Which wasn't what I was expecting going into the movie... the preview made it seem like they go into rob the casino and THEN the zombie apocalypse happens mid-way through it.

Yeah, the Tig Notaro bits were pretty glaring. And what kind of B.S. is this? Someone is accused of something and studios need to reshoot someone out of the movie? And this is just treated as normal now?

[IMJ]

Well yeah man. In many ways, cancel culture won. It's just part of normal SOP now. Guilt by accusation.

I liked Tig's character but between what I saw in this flick and on the episodes of Discovery I could make it through I'm getting that she's a one trick pony. It was the exact same character.

[joe-eyeball]

Spoiler:

Hilarious that the outbreak was essentially caused by newlywed road head

Enjoyable even though it was a bit ridiculous. Most films during the past year have just plain sucked but I found this one fun to watch!

[Andrew NDB]

RLM's review of Army of the Dead.

[IMJ]

Looks like they noticed the parallels to Aliens as well..

[Meow]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I enjoyed it, but I've been hyping this up in my head for months and I think I let myself down because of that a bit.

So, super mild spoilers just through context.......

I was disappointed to find out that this was not actually a sequel in any way, shape or form to Dawn of the Dead. And also, you're left not caring about the emotional beats much because every character is basically an idiot who caused their own problems. Basically, the crew were not on any kind of "noble mission", and when things go bad it's because of your traditional "idiot action" from a character so you are left not really caring about any death or emotional beat quite as much as I think they were going for. Basically every bad thing that transpires was because of an @$$hole character or idiot-move by a sympathetic character.

As for the direction they put the zombies on - it was interesting. Not bad really in any way, but did anyone else actually get an unironic "Evil Dead - Army of Darkness" vibe from this? Just an observation.

I also found out what they did with Tig Notoro's filmed scenes after I saw this, and I was surprised as hell by it. Watching the movie and not knowing, I'd never have known that she was never actually there with the cast at all. Interesting. Batista's relationship with his daughter was more irritating than tragic, but the best and most fun dynamic in the movie was between Omari Hardwick's character and the German guy - loved how that transformed and fleshed out through the flick. Also got a kick out of the "Aliens" "Vazquez" sort of beats from the Mexican chick who fights like a crazy person in the early hallway sequence.

Ultimately I liked it, but I spent months really waiting for this one and was let down by the movie's dumb plot circumstances and the fact that this had nothing to do with Snyder's first zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead". It's worth watching once. Don't know that I'll sit through it again unless it gets a sequel.

OMFG, you totally nailed it
Watched this thing last night, taiming my hype carefully the days and weeks before that. And yes, I did read the beginning of your post before watching the movie and stopped where I noticed you are clearly stating don't continue reading if you don't want to get spoiled.

From here on for everyone else: Please don't continue reading if you don't want to get spoiled.

Spoiler:

Here are my 2 (or 50, however you prefer it) cents on it: I have no friggin idea what actually rode the directors, the directors, the actors ... heck - the entire crew to make this movie. Not saying it was bad, just saying what the heck: One guy must have been smoking marihuana with his set buddies, someone else was going large on shrooms and no idea what the other crew and set members where relaxing to.

We have this Batista guy: The mack daddy. As usual. no? Yeah, right, for like the first third of the movie. From there on it's like deciding between is it a daddy-daugther-relationship movie or about him standing somewhere watching the other characters do some weird stuff, not really taking a lead at all, just watching, probably enjoying.

We have this Batista-daughter-girl: Remember the first scene in the camp? First she was like "OMG please no, be rational, consider consequences, please!?", couple of seconds later "Uh huh? Huh? Who u be? The camp commander king? Yeah, ask me one more time and I'll be the rebel you asked me for". And if it's not for that I was just asking myself throughout the entire movie what her problem is.

Then we have the german guy who obviously is in only for the humor, the laughs. My native language is german and I know many of those german-produced movies but damn, good Matthias is really doing a great job. Yes, the clear german accent is on purpose (so is my absolute assumption) but the way he brings his role into game with the accent is just superb.

Omari? What ... the ... while Matthis ("Deetör") makes his character's light shine the longer the movie goes, the same aplies to Omari. However, unlike Matthias this is not a comedy character even though it seemed to turn out as one. The dedication Omari put into his character A) makes a perfect symbiotic team with Matthias' character and B) puts in all the emotional magic into this film. In my opinion a real miss if he and Matthias wouldn't have been in this.

The story in general: What is going on? Aliens 2+3 - "we gotta get a specimen back alive for research" mixed with a mad max setting, a helicopter pilot mimicing sarah connor from terminator, a (young, teenaging) damsel in distress and ... yeah right, I wonder what this movie would look like if it was dwayne jon-rock taking the Batista role. Not that I find him better, just out of interest.

The blond girl, Lilly I think, really made an impression to me but it seems the potential of this character was not given enough room to develop and arrive. However, the about 2 hours runtime I found pleasing because most of the time movies these days try to tell much more story than it could fit into a regular 90 mins, so called, full length movie.

No wonder we have a ton-load of tv series/shows trying to get their fair share on the market since about 10 years. Because it's profitable to invest quite some studio time for recording to get into every necessary detail (sometimes clearly too much) without being limited to 90-120 minutes of boring the viewer and at the same time when there is enough audience to make it actually profitable do to it.

Overall I can say I'm not sure if this movie wasn't even meant to be an action-comedy movie, rather than an action movie that is seriously taken for a successor of any * of the dead series

Yeah, my 2 cents on it. Not wasted time if you like action movies but if you want a good story experience that makes sense on all levels this one might confuse you. Would-watch-again-rating: Yes, in maybe 5 or 10 years again.

[CyberCubed]

Just watched it. It's a typical zombie action movie, had its fun parts, but nothing too memorable. Had some cool scenes...that's about all I can say really.

It's like one of those movies you enjoy watching...but then after its over you immediately forget everything that happened in it.