3 Short Paragraphs: Army of the Dead

 2021, Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) -- Netflix

After that massive recap of a last post, I am not up to writing that much again anytime soon. And there normally isn't that much to write, all things considered. In this case, it's a zombie action heist movie set in Las Vegas, and really, that is all you need to know. Oh, there is one more thing you DO need to know, in that I have my own head canon side story that involved three Canadian tourists that are holed up, behind the wall, in a LV microbrewery (in the Arts District) who are doing their best to survive, while staying slightly inebriated. This may, or may not, be connected to my own trip to LV in 2019.

Army of the Dead kicks off with the zombie apocalypse backstory (military science accidentally released) and then walls off the apocalypse before it really goes anywhere. (Un)fortunately LV's strip is caged up behind a train car wall, just after we get a lovely opening Snyder-style slowmo montage of some main characters escaping the chaos, while protecting people, including Dave Bautista, who chose this movie over The Suicide Squad. Years Months? Weeks(?) later, a Rich Asian Guy hires Dave to build a crew to go back inside, to claim 250 million from the Rich Asian Guy's vault. Dave will get a hefty cut that he can divvy up however he feels. Dave needs the money, as despite being the hero of LV Z Day, he's slinging burgers.

Snyder style is somewhat dialed down for this flick, which is a decent ensemble cast of military types, vbloggers, vault techs and a bad-ass Tig Notaro who was added in post after Chris D'Elia got kicked out for being a sleazebag. Considering I forgot that happened, and didn't notice she was digitally added, they did a decent enough job. The movie's not bad, but it's nothing special. I was hesitant about another fast-zombie example, and really didn't like the zombies-evolved sub-plot. To me, zombie hordes have always been scary enough without making them make babies. But you got to do something new to keep up with this genre. Of course, there are some twists that are not twists, some red herrings, and an ending that leads us to a possible sequel.

And yes, I spent much of the movie looking at the setting, thinking, "I have been there!" and "Would that building really be there, before that building?" Considering the movie was NOT shot in LV, its not a bad fictionalization of the city, even if there was no microbrewery side plot.