“Army of dead”: the latest from Zack Snyder for Netflix

What is it about?

After a military accident, a terrifying virus invades the city of Las Vegas, producing a devastating zombie outbreak. After a time of massacres and chaos, the city is quarantined and confined. Scott, a former military man, and mercenary is hired by a mysterious and criminal man to fulfill a kamikaze mission: steal millions of dollars from a safe hidden in the center of a building located in the quarantine zone and where a large number of zombie army.

Snyder: back to its beginnings

The director of films like "300", "Sucker Punch", "Watchmen" and the "Justice League", returns with "Army of the dead" to its roots of zombies as in "Dawn of the dead". This time with a lot more budget and production in a movie about the living dead and a heist, but without that dramatic quality that the 2004 film had. The thing about "Army of the dead" is that we are introduced to many characters. That squad of strong men and tough women led by Dave Bautista's character named Scott is full of stereotypes and clichéd characters that we've already seen in the movies.

The only character that is half-developed Scott, where a broken emotional bond with his daughter Kate is explored. There is little connection and empathy with the heroes of the film, this causes us not to be so alarmed in situations of danger or terror. There is a generic and superficial structure, without seeking external conflicts. Snyder's interest is in the action under a classic story of the hero's way, with attempts to expose the occasional social criticism accompanied by moral dilemmas that take place in current American politics.

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The film starts off very well, with a compelling opening scene that exposes the reason for a zombie outbreak in the city of Las Vegas. This initial prologue is followed by the presentation of the credits, with the sound of the song “Viva las vegas” by Richard Cheese & Allison Crowe. As members of the crew and cast are introduced, we see what is happening in Vegas, in the form of transitions with bloody scenes, under a cynical and humorous tone. After this long presentation, Snyder depicts in his film a city of Vegas divided with a wall to prevent the spread of the virus, on the other side of the wall are those isolated in a refugee camp. This idea of Snyder has been seen as a kind of criticism and reflection of what happens with the wall between the United States and Mexico.

Everything related to production, sound design, apocalyptic setting, and the influence of the art and wardrobe departments is out of the question. There is a very original recreation of downtown Las Vegas, like a city now devastated and without that magic of casinos and nightclubs that work at all hours.

The direction of photography has been devised by Snyder himself, and this is very visible and notorious, the style and treatment of the image are typical of an apocalyptic film like "Mad Max", and similar to the third installment of the "Resident film Evil "that takes place in the desert of Nevada and Las Vegas.

Something that they have been concerned with since the script is consolidating the zombies under a main personality and leadership. We have a kind of leader and king of the horde, the hefty and muscular zombie who unleashes all the chaos and has his own army of the undead, accompanied by a zombie, a kind of queen with great command of territory.

"Army of dead" is extremely ideal to watch via Netflix on a Friday or Saturday night. Its two and a half hours of duration are not wasted in terms of entertainment, with wonderful special effects and a string of sequences with hordes of very fast and ingenious zombies, and in case it was missing there is even a wild zombie tiger.

Anyway, and to sum it up, it is another spectacular action movie by Zack Snyder, perhaps not as well developed as "Dawn of the Dead", but captivating and complete for the living walkers genre. We invite you to enjoy this first film collaboration of Snyder with Netflix, with a cast that includes Dave Bautista, Ana de la Reguera, Hiroyuki Sanada, Huma Qureshi, among other Hollywood stars. We expect a continuation of this new zombie outbreak of the seventh art, with an ending that opens the doors to a possible sequel.