Movie · 2021 · Crime, Action, Horror · 2h 28m · R · English
Curator score: 1.0/10 (492.5K ratings)
Survivors take all.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.0/10
IMDb: 5.8/10
Letterboxd: 2.50/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Metacritic: 57
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Zack Snyder
Production
The Stone Quarry
Cast
Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone, Michael Cassidy, Steve Corona, Chelsea Edmundson, Zach Rose, Brian Avery, David K. Maiocco
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A loud, glossy zombie-heist mashup with some strong images, a fun premise, and a few crowd-pleasing bits, but it’s weighed down by bloat, uneven tone, and thin character work. If you enjoy Zack Snyder’s maximalist style and don’t mind a long runtime, it can be entertaining; if you want tight horror or a sharp heist movie, it’s likely frustrating.
Best for
Viewers who like big, stylized genre mashups
Fans of zombie action with comic-book scale
People open to messy but ambitious blockbuster excess
Audiences who enjoy heist setups more than strict logic
Skip if
You want lean pacing and clean storytelling
You dislike self-serious melodrama in pulpy material
You prefer horror that’s tense rather than bombastic
You’re already tired of Snyder’s slow-motion, mythic style
Overview
Army of the Dead has a killer pitch: zombies in Las Vegas, a vault job in the quarantine zone, and enough swagger to sell the whole thing as a post-apocalyptic caper. The movie absolutely understands the appeal of its own premise, and when it leans into spectacle, creature design, and the neon-drenched setting, it can be a lot of fun.
Worth noting
The problem is that the film keeps trying to be two or three movies at once. The heist mechanics are loose, the mythology around the undead gets overcomplicated, and the emotional beats are stretched far past their natural lifespan. Snyder’s visual instincts still produce striking frames, but the movie often feels overlong and undercooked at the same time.
Bottom line
What remains is a divisive but watchable piece of genre excess. It’s best approached as a loud, indulgent B-movie dressed up with blockbuster money and operatic seriousness. That combination will either click for you or wear you down fast.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (3★) · 5077 likes
I’m glad Zack Snyder got back to what he’s good at: making dumb movies that know they’re dumb instead of dumb movies that think they’re really smart
ani (3.5★) · 2615 likes
you guys will never guess which popular 90s irish alt rock hit zack chooses to end this movie with lol
Karsten (2.5★) · 1524 likes
the first 10 minutes of this begs the question “can road head cause a zombie outbreak?”
demi adejuyigbe · 1502 likes
Now this is the kind of Snyder I prefer. The man’s so squarely in his wheelhouse here. Perfectly nutso set-up executed well. Even still, I thought the credits sequence was delightful until it suddenly felt extremely long- which is exactly how I felt about the whole movie! Lotta needless melodrama you coulda cut outta this one! Doesn’t need to be 148 minutes! Sometimes notes are good, Netflix!
Caught myself awed at the beautiful framing of a shot and thinking “man… more
Julien Debaker (3.5★) · 1271 likes
And all of that just ‘cause some dude wanted a blowjob