Canadian Politics Today

Zach Snyder's "Army Of The Dead" !!! ~~~!!!!

It's two of your favorite genres in one! It's a zombie apocalypse movie! It's a casino heist movie! It's a casino heist movie set during a zombie apocalypse! This is so great. If you don't love this, you should probably contact your doctor right now.

Zach Snyder is having a bit of a moment.  The recent release of "The Snyder Cut" of the Justice League movie had many people feeling that the movie Snyder envisioned was way better than the steaming load of turd Joss Whedon ultimately laid on the public's doorstep. Snyder had filled much of the Justice League movie, but his daughter committed suicide part way through, which caused Snyder to withdraw, and the project was put in the hands of Joss Whedon. The result that Whedon brought to fruition was total dogshit, and as we now know Whedon himself is also total dogshit. Actors Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot have talked about what a toxic load of crap Whedon is as a person.

As far as I know, nobody has ever said a bad thing about Zach Snyder as a person. Lots of people have said bad things about Snyder's abilities as a film-maker, but I don't know that anybody has ever said a bad thing about him as a human being.

Zach Snyder has some definite strengths, as well as some weaknesses, as a creator.  Once of my favorite pieces of cinema, ever, in any genre, is the opening credits of Snyder's 2009 treatment of the legendary "Watchmen" graphic novel.  In the space of about 3 minutes, Snyder is able to convey 50 years of backstory, as well as the thematic and emotional nuances that go along with it. The nostalgia. The loss of innocence. The evolution from a simple black and white world to a complex shades-of-grey world. The opening credits of The Watchmen capture this brilliantly, in the space of about 3 minutes set to "The Times, They Are A' Changing" by Bob Dylan. Truly brilliant.

The opening credits of "Army Of The Dead", reminded me of Watchmen a bit. To the tune of "Viva Las Vegas", we see the back-story. The fall of Las Vegas to a zombie apocalypse. Accompanied by so many of Snyder's trademark visual cues.  I think that honestly the opening credits alone are worth the price of admission, which if you're a Netflix subscriber, is free.  Yes, you get to watch a great piece of film-making on your own television for the price of fucken FREE, which is okay by me.


I enjoyed this a lot.  This is one of those things I have talked about before where you have to evaluate the product by the promise the film-maker has made to you the viewer.   If you watch this and your thoughts are "This would have been better if it had been set in an office building and didn't have zombies" then you obviously watched the wrong movie and I have no sympathy for you.  This movie promises the viewer action and adventure in a zombie apocalypse setting, and delivers in spades. This isn't a movie for people who'd like to see chain smoking French actors debate the ideas of Sartre on a couch in a shitty Parisian apartment. This is a movie for people who want to see zombies, gore, thrills, chills, and adventure.


If you're on board with the premise, this movie is the titz.  It brings everything you could want and way more.

It stars Dave Bautista, and he's exactly what you'd want to build a movie like this around. He's best known as "Drax" from the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, but he showed he could do more in the opening scene of "Blade Runner 2049" during the confrontation with Ryan Gosling's main character. Bautista is a lot like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the sense of being a charismatic action performer, but I think Bautista is a more genuine, more human, more relatable actor. If you can look past his absurdly powerful physique, he has this soft, gentle, humane quality to him.  He's at the center of some terrific action scenes, but he's also at the heart of these sensitive, vulnerable scenes with several of his co-stars.  In "Army of the Dead" we see Bautista in scenes involving crushing dozens of zombies, but we also see him in these scenes with his estranged daughter and his estranged friends from before the fall of Vegas, and he carries it all very well. I genuinely think Bautista is a talented actor trapped inside the body of a pro-wrestler and action movie star.

Aside from Dave Bautista, the movie has good ensemble cast with lots of likeable characters. Like a zombie version of Ocean's Eleven, our protagonists are a crew of experts assembled to get a job done. Dieter, a young German safecracker. Vanderohe, a philosopher who destroys zombies with a rescue saw. Mikey Guzman, a Youtube celebrity famous for videos where he splatters zombies using trick shots.  Peters the depressed, embittered helicopter pilot is a scene stealer. She's played by standup comedienne Tig Notaro. She never met the rest of the cast-- all her scenes were filmed in front of a green screen with acting partners. She was edited into the movie after filming had been finished, after the actor she replaced had become involved in a sexual assault scandal.  Snyder joked that he spent millions to get Notaro into Army of the Dead; he wasn't talking about her salary, he was referring to the cost of doing the digital editing to replace the prior actor.

Anyway.  This was a hell of a lot of fun.  If you're not the sort who only watches movies set in office buildings, this is great.

 -k