If you've seen one zombie movie, you've seen them all and this one is really no different from the rest. First, you have an unexplained patient zero, an accident, and then chaos.
In this movie though, the chaos was sort of comical and the movie itself had a light-hearted feel about it. It turned out to be an intriguing plot that puts a slightly different spin on it by combining elements of Resident evil and zombie land to form this action movie.
In reality, the movie is described as a Spiritual successor of the dawn of the dead and it had actually been in limbo for a long time. The movie had been announced in 2007 but after Snyder took over from the director, as well as a sexual misconduct issue with one of the cast members that had to be replaced by Nogato(the pilot), things got back into gear in 2019.
The movie was distributed on Netflix and is one of the most popular movies showing in my location. According to Wikipedia, the movie grossed only $1m after showing in select theatres but it was a big hit on Netflix.
The movie was directed by Zach Snyder and had his fingerprint all over it. The cast featured some mildly familiar faces that include Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Anna De La Reguera, and a couple of others.
It wasn't a big hit in the general scheme of things, but considering it was just another zombie movie with a lot of plot holes, I think the 5.8/10 IMDB rating is fair.
Fun fact
There will be prequels to the movie and as an anime lover, I can't help but be excited by this. There will actually be two prequels but the one that interests me is the "Army of the dead: Lost Vegas" that will be released on Netflix.
The plot
The movie is set in a time when the patient zero of zombies escapes from it's cage due to an accident while in transit. The accident was on a highway in Las Vegas, and so after a while, the situation escalated into a situation where the city had to be completely cut off from the world.
In typical fashion, the zombies occupied the wasteland and evolved into intelligent beings. They had actually coordinated armies and different types of zombies.
In the midst of the chaos, there was a badass team of zombie killers that were employed to sneak into the city and get some valuables. However, in the midst of all this, there was also another subplot by the originator of the scheme.
On top of that scheme, there was also Kate, the daughter of Dave Bautista's character who goes in there to save her friend. I mean, you'd think that everyone that goes into the contained area and doesn't come out is presumed dead but not this hard-headed girl with a death wish.
Thoughts
I think it was a pretty fun movie to watch and it had a lot of suspense-filled moments. Zombie fight scenes aren't as fun as human vs human rights but the shooting was really fun.
I enjoyed the fact that the zombies had a hierarchy and took orders. Also, it was an unusual thing to see zombies having emotional connections, but such was the case in this flick.
I enjoyed the fact that there were subplots in between and how the different agendas came to a head conclusion. I also enjoyed how the characters interacted with each other and the relationships between each.
I didn't enjoy all the other cliche crap like when the girl snuck into the zombie town to save her friend and wasn't detected by the zombies sense of smell. I mean, how convenient it must have been for her.
The entire expedition turned out to be pointless and the only benefactor of the venture turned out to be a cliffhanger. I mean, in a place where there are zombies trying to bite you, why are you walking around with a sleeveless vest. Badassery outweighs safety, you know?
Overall, I largely enjoyed the movie and will recommend it for anyone who's looking to kill two hours. It was a bit longer than it needed to be but every character needed an emotional ending, so that made it lengthier.
- Rating: 6/10
