The Dead Don't Die

Earlier this year we got to see Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021, Zack Snyder). And if I can find joy in watching 4 hours of a superhero movie that I’d already seen in a different form previously; and if I can still be a fan of Watchmen (2009, Snyder) this long after its theatrical release (having doubted my high opinion of it would last), I feel assured in my optimism for what comes next from him.

     But what do I expect from him? Foremost, there’s the abundance of 120fps (or higher) shots. Something about the way it’s incorporated into his aesthetic and the way he uses it still captivates me. And beyond that there’s a sense of mourning. But is trauma becoming overused in genre films lately? Not for me, if done right.

Army of the Dead (2021, Snyder) may combine too many disparate genre ingredients for its own good. Or maybe not? I’m also thinking about my own initial unfledged negative reaction to seeing The Dead Don’t Die (2019, Jim Jarmusch) in the theater. After subsequent viewings it’s earned a cult status and I can rewatch it to death.

     Army of the Dead is a heist movie, but with zombies. But it’s also an action movie. But it’s also, as we find out in the second act so I must be vague to avoid spoilers, a Frazetta fantasy adventure. Whatever it is, it’s aim is to spare no expense and, to reference its Vegas setting: raise the stakes as high as possible. Unlike other Snyder films I’m thinking of, Army of the Dead feels like a B movie. (Which, to clarify, I don’t use the term B movie despairingly, if done well.) Also, unlike other of Snyder’s films, it doesn’t ever come off as pretentious, or aspires the level of prestige he seems accustomed to.

 

     The shots aren’t composed in the overly stylized, impressive, visual manner Snyder’s known for either. Army of the Dead looks rough. Gritty. I’m not talking late 90s von Trier/Barry Ackroyd or Cloverfield, but you know, newsreel/TV footage looking. Yet there is all the slow-motion you’ve come to expect, don’t worry. I don’t know if it’s cause this is Netflix, or because he serves as his own DP, or a combination of the two, but the Justice League Snyder Cut this is not.

 

     And disappointingly, unlike Dawn of the Dead (2004, Snyder), the characters don’t really feel fleshed out. But speaking of Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, his depiction of security guards as sleazeball power-crazed lechers is preserved for canon’s sake.

 

     So in closing, Army of the Dead is fun, and really cool. First time I can think of where Bautista is the lead and I’m happy to see it. For an R rated as fuck genre treat, it seems cultworthy and not overly bloated due to its 2 and a half hour runtime. And in regards to the zombie tiger: I don’t care enough to actually fact check that Siegfried or Roy was actually mauled to death by one or not, but when that thing attacks I was mega creeped out and horrified by the significance of its occurrence in real life. But okay, in closing-closing, the narrative is especially well constructed when it comes to audience expectations and what happens to the characters.

 

5/16/2021 Cinemark Tinseltown 17

Fayetteville, GA

DCP