The film revolves around a former mercenary hired by a casino owner to form a team to retrieve $200 million from his vault in a zombie-infested Las Vegas just days before the city is to be nuked. It is a film with a simple premise as it plays into a bunch of people going to a city filled with zombies to get $200 million unaware of the real motives by the man who hired them. The film’s screenplay by Zack Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Joby Harold is straightforward in how the zombie apocalypse started all because of an army convoy got into an accident with another car as all hell broke loose with Las Vegas ravaged by zombies to the point that the city becomes quarantined with survivors living in nearby refugee camps. The main narrative shifts six years later where a wealthy casino owner Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) asks a former mercenary in Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) to assemble a team to retrieve $200 million from his vault days before Las Vegas is to be nuked. He calls in a couple of old friends in mercenaries Vanderhoe (Omari Hardwick) and Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) as well as another old friend in helicopter pilot Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro).
The crew would include a couple of Chicano zombie killers in Mikey Guzman (Raul Castillo) and Chambers (Samantha Win), the German safecracker Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighofer), and Tanaka’s associate Martin (Garrett Dillahunt) as he would join the team with his own motives. Going to the quarantine refugee camp next to Las Vegas where Ward’s estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) works as a volunteer where she joins the group when she learned that one of the refugees she befriended had gone through the city to get money and has not returned. The team would recruit the smuggler Lilly (Nora Arnezeder) and a security guard in Cummings (Theo Rossi) to enter the zombie-filled city that are filled with intelligent zombies known as Alphas led by their leader Zeus (Richard Certone). The script would play into traditional schematics expected in a zombie film, but the script also play into the sense of danger as well as what a group of people must deal with as it is not just zombies they are facing but the truth into what Tanaka really wants.
Snyder’s direction is stylish in the cold opening sequence of an army convoy driving in the desert where they would crash where the mysterious thing they are carrying is Zeus who would infect all of Las Vegas. Shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico with casino interiors shot in Atlantic City, New Jersey with additional location shooting in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Snyder does maintain a calm atmosphere while utilizing straightforward compositions in the way he presents characters through close-ups and medium shots. He would use wide shots to get a scope of Las Vegas as well as knowing when to slow things down before and during the action. Even as the team reach the vault where Dieter and Vanderhoe must deal with booby traps and while also awaiting for whatever zombies will emerge. Serving as the film’s cinematography, Snyder maintains a unique look for some of the interiors with the usage of glow sticks for some of the dark interiors involving sleeping zombies.
Snyder also knows how to build suspense while also commenting on a subject matter that has been told before about the creation of weapons that no one should make as it relates to the cold open. Even as it relates to the character of Martin who is part of the team for his own reasons as it relates to his boss Tanaka obtaining something that is worth more than just money. It would lead to a climax as it relates to Zeus’ bride (Athena Perample) where the zombies go nuts as it becomes a battle for survival. Snyder is aware of the stakes while also being aware of the human drama where Ward is someone that is leading the charge and knows what he must do but he is also concerned for his daughter who has gone rogue to find her friend. Adding to chaos is a nuclear bomb ready to drop on Las Vegas where time becomes limited as Snyder knows how to amp up the action and suspense. Overall, Snyder crafts a gripping and exciting film about a heist to collect $200 million in a zombie-infested Las Vegas just before it is about to be nuked.
Editor Dody Dorn does excellent work with the editing with its usage of slow-motion montages for the film’s opening credits as well as some fast-style cutting to play into the action without the need to go into nonsensical chaotic editing. Production designer Julie Berghoff, along with set decorator Sophie Neudorfer and supervising art director Gregory S. Hooper, does amazing work with the look of Las Vegas in its decayed state as well as Tanaka’s vault room and the home of Zeus and his zombies. Costume designer Stephanie Porter does terrific work with the costumes as it is casual except for the expensive suits that Tanaka wears as well as the military gear that the crew wear. Makeup designer Victoria Down and hair designer Marie Larkin do incredible work with the design of the zombies in its look as well as the look Zeus and his bride.
Special effects supervisor Michael Gaspar and visual effects supervisor Marcus Taormina do amazing work with the visual effects in the look of Las Vegas as well as some set-dressing in some parts as well as the design of the zombie tiger that used to perform for Siegfried and Roy. Sound designers Chuck Michael and Scott Hecker do superb work with the sound in the way zombies growl at their prey as well as the sounds of gunfire and other bits that help maintain the film’s suspense. The film’s music by Tom Holkenborg is wonderful for its electronic-based score with intense percussion elements and bombastic synthesizers to help play into the action and suspense while its music soundtrack consists of an array of music featuring a cover of Viva Las Vegas by Richard Cheese and Allison Crowe as well as music from the Cranberries, Culture Club, the Raveonettes, Thea Gilmore, Control Machete, Richard Wagner, and Elvis Presley.
The casting by John Papsidera and Kim Winther is great as it feature some notable small roles from Sean Spicer and Donna Brazile as a couple of media pundits, Steve Corona and Chelsea Edmundson as the married couple killed in the cold open, Colby Lemmo as Scott’s wife who had become a zombie in a flashback, Michael Cassidy and Zach Rose as a couple of military officials in the cold open, Albert Vallardares as the alpha zombie general, and Athena Perample as the alpha zombie queen who is also Zeus’ bride. Huma Quereshi is good as Kate’s friend Geeta who is desperate to leave the refugee camp where she goes to Las Vegas to get money only to be captured by zombies. Richard Certone is fantastic as the alpha zombie known as Zeus as he is someone with this chilling presence as a zombie that is just powerful and not one to be fucked with. Garrett Dillahunt and Theo Rossi are superb in their respective roles as Tanaka’s associate Martin and the slimy refugee camp security guard Burt Cummings as two guys who join the team with motives of their own as the former doing a job for Tanaka while the latter is just a creep.
Hiroyuki Sanada is terrific in a small role as the casino owner Bly Tanaka who asks Ward and his team to retrieve $200 million though he has an ulterior motive as it relates to what he wants to do for the U.S. government. Samantha Win and Raul Castillo are excellent in their respective roles as the Chicano zombie killers Chambers and Mikey Guzman who join the crew for a cut of the $200 million with the former being suspicious towards Martin whom Guzman would become suspicious towards. Nora Arnezeder is brilliant as the smuggler Lilly who gets refugees into Las Vegas for a fee if they return as she learns about what Martin is doing where she realizes a much bigger stake at hand. Tig Notaro and Mathias Schweighofer are great in their respective roles as the helicopter pilot Marianne Peters and safecracker Ludwig Dieter as they are the film’s comic reliefs where they are great in their job while also being the funniest people who do more than just kill zombies and kick ass.
Omari Hardwick and Ana de la Reguera are amazing in their respective roles as the mercenaries Vanderhoe and Maria Cruz with the former being a badass who kills zombies with a chainsaw as he befriends Dieter whom he starts to care about while the latter is a woman who is close with Ward as she also has another reason for joining the mission as it relates to her own feelings for him. Ella Purnell is incredible as Ward’s daughter Kate as a refugee camp volunteer who reluctantly allows her father and team to use her camp to enter Vegas only to join them when one of her friends had not returned where she deals with not just the mission but also her own estrangement from her father. Finally, there is Dave Bautista in a phenomenal performance as Scott Ward, a former mercenary who still deals with his past as he takes the job for the money while being aware of the seriousness of the mission where he is eager to make amends with his own daughter and old friends.
Army of the Dead is a marvelous film by Zack Snyder. Featuring a great ensemble cast, a gripping premise, dazzling visuals, and a fun music soundtrack. It is a zombie film that understands what it needs to do while also adding a lot of stakes that allows audience to be aware of the danger at hand. In the end, Army of the Dead is a remarkable film by Zack Snyder.
Zack Snyder Films: (Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)) – 300 - Watchmen - (Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole) – Sucker Punch - Man of Steel - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Justice League - Zack Snyder's Justice League - Rebel Moon (The Director's Cuts) - (The Last Photograph)
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