Review of the film "Army of the Dead". Sndeerapocalypse
Today they are not so often remembered that the film career of Zach Snyder began with "Dawn of the Dead" – remake of the cult film of 1978. And although critics met him cordially, and he collected a good box office, many fans of the original called a new version of a soulless fake. They can be understood, because the remake really went far from George Romero's plan. The social commentary, black humor and general melancholy replaced brutal and evil zombies-crumbs, seasoned with hopeless and clip installation. Be that as it may, Snyder declared himself, received an appointment for "300 Spartans" , And there it rushed … And now, seventeen years later, after the tragedy in the family and the epoch -making drama around "League of Justice" The director returned to the good old zombie.
One rabbly night near Las Vegas, a military truck breaks, from which the most realized dead man crawls out. His efforts of the capital of the casino in a matter of hours are covered by a zombie epidemic. All attempts to recapture the city fail, and then the government decides to simply embrace it with a wall.
Scott Ward is a former mercenary who lost his wife in all this turmoil. His life is difficult and joyless: relations with his daughter are destroyed, the work of a cook in the eatery does not bring money or pleasure, and nightmares torment at night. But one day, a millionaire Blya Tanaka is declared to him and offers a dashing adventure: Scott must assemble a team, penetrate the wall and take $ 200 million from the storage in the casino in the casino. If everything works out, he will be able to pick up 50 million to himself. Great risk, big jackpot-and there is nothing to lose, in general. Having gathered a group, Ward goes to the city of Zombies.
The best part "Army of the Dead" – Opening credits. And not because the rest of the film is so bad, but because Snyder created a small masterpiece at the level of ophening of his own "Guardians". It contains a hitly hut, branded sloan, blood fountains, black humor, bright colors, spectacular images and unique flavor of Vegas. Actually, most of the personnel for the trailer is borrowed from this clip. The problem is that the Outside promises somewhat not the picture that awaits the viewer in the future.
The plot is in front of us honest tracing paper with "Aliens" Cameron or, say, with the first "Evil of Evil" Anderson. A detachment of thugs is sent to a very bad place to complete the task with a catch, and the campaign of the case will die in the full or almost complete composition, finally distributing to the Lule to the final boss. The formula was effective both forty years ago, and twenty, and now it may well work. The main thing is that there are two components on the spot: memorable heroes on which the viewer does not have a do not care, and peppy action (preferably, with the intersperses of Sassens). All of the above in the "Army of the Dead" is, but as if in the background. For the first, oddly enough, the drama comes out. Before us is the most personal film by Zach Snyder: he acted as a director, producer, and screenwriter, and even – for the first time in the filmography – operator. And so it coincided that he took him off shortly after a terrible personal tragedy: suicide of the adopted daughter. As a result, either consciously, or by chance, Snyder made a pillar of history of the problematic relations of Scott with his daughter Kate. And when closer to the final, the main character asks for forgiveness for being not nearby in difficult times, it is impossible to get rid of the thought that the director himself says to Ward.
If you think that this cool circular saw, which was lit up even on a poster, will receive its bloody minute of fame in the film, then you are mistaken
Therapy, if it is really it, is, of course, a good thing, but the whole line with her daughter loads the picture of a not particularly necessary and very mediocre drama. But she gives Dave Batist the opportunity to finally reveal her acting potential. Another short episode in "Running blade 2049" allowed to understand that the former wrestler is capable of more than grimace in the makeup of Drax. The "Army of the Dead" confirms this. The batist drags the whole film on himself, confidently playing out and the worried father, and the grieving widower, and a faithful friend, and a brutal machine for the extermination of a zombie. Scott Ward will hardly stand on a par with Ellen Ripley or Ash from "Empterian dead" , but watching him on the screen is nice.
The remaining members of the team are also worked out relatively well: you remember them if not by names, then by distinctive features. There is a sarcastic pilot, there is no less sarcastic African American, who for some reason quotes Joseph Campbell (author "The yarrow hero" -the table book of almost every Hollywood screenwriter), there is still a Mexican video blogger and his girlfriend, clearly written off with Vaskshaz from “strangers”, a suspicious look of Tanaki's assistant, as well as a blonde-stalk who knows about Vegas more than the rest. However, Deter streams all the audience: a German cracker, who obviously got the role of the main comedian. True, it cannot be said that he does impeccably with her – he is just very, very much. Almost every scene of the film is accompanied by the reaction of a talkative German, which will be a plus for some, and for others, turn off the film in half an hour. Ah, yes, there is still a daughter of Kate, but she needs it just for the mental torment of the Batista and the fulfillment of nonsense that move the plot further.
And stupid things in the "army of the dead" are full. If you are not ready to turn a blind eye to turmoil, lack of logic and giant plot holes, it is better not to even start viewing. Here, either the director and part-time, the scriptwriter finally scored on the minimum reliability of what was happening, or some kind of indifferent version came to Netflix, and at the time to demand a “sniderkat” again. It comes to the point of absurdity: some storylines are left without any completion at all, and the characters, for which the fate of which the viewer seems to be worried, disappear without a trace.
If you believe the titers, the leader of the dead is called Zeus. And the casino that the heroes storm is called "Sodom". Snyder simply can't without references
The film, in principle, leaves an acute sensation of incompleteness. Everything is in it with the “almost” note: the heroes are almost charismatic, the jokes are almost funny, the finds are almost successful. For example https://sky-vegas-gb-casino.co.uk/, smart and dexterous zombies, which in their knowledge were so full that they organized in a real tribe with a hierarchy and traditions. The local king of the dead even has a whole set of attributes of the monarch of power: tunic, spear and metal helmet. This is a curious and not beaten concept that develops ideas laid down by George Romero in his "Day of the dead" And "The land of the dead". The trouble is that Snyder does almost nothing with her. When it comes to a conflict, zombies, as elsewhere, rely on numbers and gross power, unless now some of them know how to dodge and occasionally use improvised objects (by the way, the ghouls were capable of it back in this "Nights of the living dead" 1968). The same with the zombie-tiger, which was proudly shown in the trailer. He appears in three scenes, of which only two of them, in principle, does something and eats only in one, after which he disappears forever. Action in the "Army of the Dead" in places very meat and spectacular, but it is almost always cut off before it reaches the climax. It seems, a little more-and the real fun, Trash and the fumes promised in the prologue will begin. Now … a little more … in the next scene exactly … and then the film ends. It turns out that it’s just a good shooting ten minutes earlier and was the same Grand Final, to which led all the way.
Another dubious aspects of the tape include how she, in fact, was removed. It has long been known that the sense of proportion is alien to the Snider-director, but the snider-operator about him, it seems, did not hear at all. He plays so often and so irrevocably playing with the depth of sharpness of the image that you can seriously seem like you will blind. Each frame is partially in defocus, the background is constantly in “soap”, but this is not a technical marriage, but an author's vision that is supposed to accept.
Just a couple of months after all the glued monumental “Justice League”, Zak Snyder gave his most personal and at the same time the most sloppy and most mixed film. Beautiful and ugly, sincere and empty, excessive and unfinished. The Army of the Dead is like a test of faith for the most devoted fans. Say, here he is, Snyder unbridled, snider freed, with a full card blanch from Netflix and without any pressure from the studio bosses that do not have a chip. And, as the reviews show, not all this test has passed.
- Biomutant review. Rudimentary mutation
- Review Hood: Outlaws & Legends. Steal, kill, do not touch geese
- 25 best games for Nintendo DS. Part 2: Advance Wars, Ace Attorney, The World Ends with You