Several years ago in the family Zach Snyder a tragedy struck, forcing him to take a long creative break. In 2023, he triumphantly returned with his version “Justice League“, as well as a new film for” Netflix “-“By the army of the dead“Perhaps not everyone remembers, but it was from the remake of the classic zombie action movie.”Dawn of the Dead”And Snyder’s path once began in full meter, so we can say that now he has completely rebooted himself.
And in a way, he really did it. Distinctive features of Snyder’s films have always been an abundance of exposure and slow-motion shooting, the elevation of characters to the rank of gods with all the appropriate allegories – and all the main characters must be in great shape, since Zach – fitness fan. And now it’s funny, but in “Armies of the Dead“not even half of the director’s trademark tricks. Yes, there is a typical Snyder slow-mo here, but there are quite a few of it and it is not so much” savored “as usual. Batista and Hardwick look like they’ve come off the covers Men’s Health, then all the rest are ordinary “middle peasants”, and this also applies to their roles in the film.
Most of the story is devoted to Batista’s hero and his relationship, and all the other characters are rather secondary. Sometimes it even comes to the ridiculous – one “very important for the plot” character simply dies off-screen and is no longer remembered. Snyder decided to give up almost everything that sets him apart as a director, but what remains in the end?
“Army of the Dead” begins not quite standard for zombie-fighters – with the story of the origin of the infection in Las Vegas, and this is the whole film – he constantly tries to somehow play out typical situations in a different way. Here is a zombie tiger, here are fist fights with zombies, here are zombies who do not mind dodging from bullets. The film does not try to be serious, and even more so frightening, but it does not cross the boundaries of trash either. All this is served in the wrapper of a well-choreographed and very bloody action.
But the plot itself is very simple and banal, the characters do not go beyond their paradigm. It would seem that “Army of the Dead” is not a movie of the type in which it is required, but still I would like to somehow empathize with the heroes … However, they do not evoke any feelings.
There are films in which the logic and plot are too subordinate to cinematography, and asking questions – most often means spoiling all the pleasure of the work (“Fast and the Furious” is a vivid example). The same is the “Army of the Dead”, illogical things often happen here, and in the finale, strange things happen in general.
As a result, Snyder made his most atypical movie. It is all the more amusing because it also turned out to be the most highly regarded among critics since Breaking Dawn. Fans of the director will not find that “dose of Snyder” for themselves here, while others will just get an ordinary action movie that is nice to watch and forget.
Author: Den Leshchenko (dozensnake)
7/10
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