Army Of The Dead

[AverageJoe]

It's out now! On Netflix!

Two and a half hours of Zach Snyder (300, Justice League) helming a zombie film set around a casino heist in Las Vegas.

Zombies.
Heist
Casino
Vegas.

If anyone can carry those four words off and turn them into fun then it's Snyder. It's on Netflix now.

Have a likkle trailer.

 

[T & P]

It's out now! On Netflix!

Two and a half hours of Zach Snyder (300, Justice League) helming a zombie film set around a casino heist in Las Vegas.

Zombies.
Heist
Casino
Vegas.

If anyone can carry those four words off and turn them into fun then it's Snyder. It's on Netflix now.

Have a likkle trailer.

I was just posting a running commentary on the Netflix thread as I watch it as I type. One of the best and most encouraging openings of a film of this genre I’ve seen in a long time. I was concerned by the running time but the pace has so far been spot on, and the tone and premise very engaging so far, so very happy with it 20 minutes in

 

[tommers]

Watched it this afternoon. It's decent. It is a good example of a zombie film.

 

[tommers]

In fact I'm probably being a bit too restrained. I really liked it. Has some classic zombie film moments.

 

[T & P]

In fact I'm probably being a bit too restrained. I really liked it. Has some classic zombie film moments.

Well I haven’t finished it yet but I’ve long thought zombie films work far better as comedy/action horrors than purely as horror vehicles.

There have been some great zombie horror films and series of course, but as supernatural monsters go they have never really felt as threatening or horrifying as the likes of vampires or werewolves. In most scenarios you need hundreds of them in the scene to present a credible thread, given that for the most part they’re both very slow and very stupid.

At least with a comedy/ action zombie film the emphasis is on being thrilled or entertained, which is far more achievable than being scared.

 

[tommers]

Well I haven’t finished it yet but I’ve long thought zombie films work far better as comedy/action horrors than purely as horror vehicles.

There have been some great zombie horror films and series of course, but as supernatural monsters go they have never really felt as threatening or horrifying as the likes of vampires or werewolves. In most scenarios you need hundreds of them in the scene to present a credible thread, given that for the most part they’re both very slow and very stupid.

At least with a comedy/ action zombie film the emphasis is on being thrilled or entertained, which is far more achievable than being scared.

Yeah they aren't really scary. Gory.

Train to Busan is probably my recent favourite. The second one was alright too.

 

[mauvais]

I just watched it now. It's not very good.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ooh, conflicting reviews.
I was going to give it a miss. Zombies? Heist? Bit of a double yawn, and has Snyder done any good films?

. . but a couple of positive posts up top.

 

[T & P]

Well, within the context of zombie action films, for me it’s a solid 7.5/ 10. Not the greatest but nowhere near boring or bad. It does everything you’d expect a silly comedy-horror-thriller to do: entertaining, well paced and nowhere near boring. And the plot is more far complex than the usual run-or-be-eaten premise of 99% of zombie films.

 

[tommers]

Ooh, conflicting reviews.
I was going to give it a miss. Zombies? Heist? Bit of a double yawn, and has Snyder done any good films?

. . but a couple of positive posts up top.

It is very much a zombie heist movie. I like zombie films.

He did the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was also pretty good. (there was a great shot at the start of cars careering into fuel depots etc.).

 

[mauvais]

Heist films are a favourite but it's definitely not actually a heist film because it lacks various essential ingredients of one; the house, for a start. It's just an adventure/disaster film basically and I thought some choices within that were odd, diminishing the peril it bothered to set up.

It's not quite superhero film levels of shallow but it's all just so linear and predictable, no real tension or intrigue. Even the music choices feel like they were picked by doing a poll of Sun readers or something.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

It is very much a zombie heist movie. I like zombie films.

He did the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was also pretty good. (there was a great shot at the start of cars careering into fuel depots etc.).

I didn't know that was him. I thought it was pretty rubbish to be honest.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Looks like trashy fun, possibly. Not got Netflix at the moment, and not sure if I'd renew just for this. There was a time when I'd be more than up for any epic zombie film, but think I have zombie fatigue (no) thanks to TWD.

 

[killer b]

Even the music choices feel like they were picked by doing a poll of Sun readers or something.

I heard they finish with 'zombie' by the cranberries. Seems a bit on the nose.

 

[T & P]

Looks like trashy fun, possibly. Not got Netflix at the moment, and not sure if I'd renew just for this. There was a time when I'd be more than up for any epic zombie film, but think I have zombie fatigue (no) thanks to TWD.

Not surprising given that how slow paced it is and how many seasons it has been stretched to, good as it might be.

This is nothing like it: think Ocean’s Eleven meets Aliens meets The Expendables, but with zombies instead of aliens. I’m not saying this is anywhere as good as Ocean’s 11 or Aliens because it isn’t, but that’s what the sub genre, premise and pace felt like to me. A million miles away from the slow-burning horror drama that TWD is.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Not surprising given that how slow paced it is and how many seasons it has been stretched to, good as it might be.

This is nothing like it: think Ocean’s Eleven meets Aliens meets The Expendables, but with zombies instead of aliens. I’m not saying this is anywhere as good as Ocean’s 11 or Aliens because it isn’t, but that’s what the sub genre, premise and pace felt like to me. A million miles away from the slow-burning horror drama that TWD is.

Still sounds like stuff I've seen before, and the reviews are tending towards the mediocre. TWD has gone through periods of fast paced action. I'm just not sure where the zombie film can go now - between Romero, Fulci and TWD (and its spin-offs), it's been exhausted. I will watch at some point when I renew Netflix for some other reason.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I’m not saying this is anywhere as good as Ocean’s 11

Uh oh. So the bar is set lower than oceans 11? I think I am out again.

 

[T & P]

Still sounds like stuff I've seen before, and the reviews are tending towards the mediocre. TWD has gone through periods of fast paced action. I'm just not sure where the zombie film can go now - between Romero, Fulci and TWD (and its spin-offs), it's been exhausted. I will watch at some point when I renew Netflix for some other reason.

I would certainly say it’s not worth renewing Netflix for, so don’t. But if you ever have the film available for free, definitely worth watching.

So long as you are prepared to watch and generally enjoy zombie films that might not be as good as the all-time greats of the genre, this is as acceptable as any in the genre. If anyone thinks this is significantly worse than most other zombie films out there, I couldn’t imagine the reasoning behind it.

I’ve never seen much point in paying attention to any mainstream reviews for certain genres such as this. If you like fun rubbish fodder genres, what mainstream papers think of it is as relevant as what they might have thought of Sharknado if one fancies that kind of crap on principle.

I also think that Hollywood and traditional film critics still see Netflix as an aberration to the industry and will not be very sympathetic to anything that isn’t less than great.

In any event

 

[T & P]

Uh oh. So the bar is set lower than oceans 11? I think I am out again.

Both Clooney and Pitt had previous commitments

 

[marty21]

I have a weakness for Zombie films (have watched a few howlers) so it is inevitable that I will watch this.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I'm 25 minutes in. It's paced more like a TV show than a film. Waaay too slow and pointless a set up. I'm seeing more wrong with it than right unfortunately. I shouldn't be 25 minutes into a film and critiquing the editing and pacing issues in my head (shouldn't be doing that for any film at any point really). Messy.
It's probably a half decent film but I'm already bored and have started doing something else. I'll probably watch it in bits over the next few days. Probably should have been a fun miniseries. If Snyder can't craft a film at films length then perhaps TV would suit him.

 

[marty21]

I'm 25 minutes in. It's paced more like a TV show than a film. Waaay too slow and pointless a set up. I'm seeing more wrong with it than right unfortunately. I shouldn't be 25 minutes into a film and critiquing the editing and pacing issues in my head (shouldn't be doing that for any film at any point really). Messy.
It's probably a half decent film but I'm already bored and have started doing something else. I'll probably watch it in bits over the next few days. Probably should have been a fun miniseries. If Snyder can't craft a film at films length then perhaps TV would suit him.

I think a mini series is planned tbf

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I think a mini series is planned tbf

Well they should have started with that. 30 minutes for a faceless backstory is too much. Yes I know they have probably inserted silent cast members that will turn up later (I'm only guessing because I saw Dave Bautista included).
Could have been a fun deconstruction of zombie tropes inter-cut with previous lives. Like almost all zombie films before it, we don't bloody need to know exactly where it came from, and all the back story in chronological order. . . we just need to be dropped into the characters and situation. The interesting thing here is that the main zombie apocalypse is the back story and they are just getting over that hump, rather than just getting to it from a normal every day life back story.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Finished.

It was an mega turd.

Not sure what the yay sayers were on about but we obviously like/appreciate very different things.
There was only one bit that I thought was cool, and that was ruined by the set up (to try and make it a shocker) and the underwhelming reaction post incident.

 

[fucthest8]

Finished.

It was an mega turd.

Not sure what the yay sayers were on about but we obviously like/appreciate very different things.
There was only one bit that I thought was cool, and that was ruined by the set up (to try and make it a shocker) and the underwhelming reaction post incident.

Should behave gone with your gut - lower bar than Oceans 11 indeed.

I thought it was deeply average. I liked all the cover versions though and enjoyed the set up, and certainly didn't have a problem with the run time, ticked over nicely ... but I'm not going to actually recommend it to anyone

Train to Busan was fucking superb by the way, loved the way it messed with all the US stereotypes, tongue firmly in cheek and yet ... I cared about the main characters. Deftly done.

Mostly though, Zombie films can fuck off these days, same as superheroes. Done to death, no-one seems to be smart enough to get a new angle.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I thought Train to Busan was pretty crap - bloodless and too much obvious CGI. I know I'm going against the grain.

 

[mauvais]

Finished.

It was an mega turd.

Not sure what the yay sayers were on about but we obviously like/appreciate very different things.
There was only one bit that I thought was cool, and that was ruined by the set up (to try and make it a shocker) and the underwhelming reaction post incident.

Which bit was cool?

 

[The39thStep]

Absolute cliched guff but enjoyable cliched guff

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Which bit was cool?

Spoiler: Cool bit

The bit where the zombie spun that girls head around. Bit shit because she only mentioned one minute before that she liked the bloke. He was angry for another minute then everybody forgot. Basically his flipping daughter got pretty much everyone (including him) killed

 

[bmd]

Heist films are a favourite but it's definitely not actually a heist film because it lacks various essential ingredients of one; the house, for a start. It's just an adventure/disaster film basically and I thought some choices within that were odd, diminishing the peril it bothered to set up.

It's not quite superhero film levels of shallow but it's all just so linear and predictable, no real tension or intrigue. Even the music choices feel like they were picked by doing a poll of Sun readers or something.

I liked the film but my god, the music! The Country dittys are the most awful covers I've ever heard. I would have said it was impossible to make Bad Moon Rising into a boring drag but they pulled it off.