Movie review: Army of the Dead

Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

PROS

• Realistic looking Zombie’s gave the movie an authentic feel.
• Excellent actions scenes
• Great performance by Dave Bautista (Scott Ward) and Omari Hardwick (Vanderohe)

CONS

• Lack of proper character development.
• Some unnecessary plot lines that didn’t lead anywhere.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Scott Ward: “Think about it. Everything we did. All those people we saved. Look what it got us. But what if, just once, we did something for us?”

Vanderohe: “To quote the great Joseph Campbell, he said, “It is by going down into the abyss where we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”

Lilly (The Coyote): “You all keep talking about the city like it’s their prison. It’s not. It’s their kingdom.”

CONCLUSSION

Army of the Dead is an exciting heist movie infused with a generous helping of zombies. It feels like the plot of the movie is merely a skeleton on which to hang the action scenes. The action scenes are excellent but the movie would have benefitted from a more intriguing storyline with better twists and turns.

Dave Bautista gave a great performance, he was a perfect fit for the role, a legitimate tough guy who you is believable as someone who would fearlessly go up against a horde of zombies. Unfortunately his character lacked depth, they tried to add an emotional element with his daughters but not enough was done with that. The rest of the relatively large cast suffered from poor character development. Very brief backgrounds were given, not enough to get invested in their characters. Their motivations for joining the extremely dangerous heist were flimsy. Would you risk a violent death for a slim chance at a few million dollar ?

‘Army of the Dead’ is jam-packed with Zombies , big guns,  blood, guts and lots of action. It is a video-game type horror-thriller that makes for a great Saturday night popcorn movie.

RATING

3 out of 5

BY KAPA KAUMBA