There’s a beautiful irony about the whole zombie genre. It’s been done to death and keeps coming back for more. Netflix has released two trailers for the upcoming Army of the Dead movie. The first trailer left me feeling like the end of Season 3 of The Walking Dead. The second, longer trailer released this week which reveals a bit more depth of the story is much more exciting. It looks like some genuinely new takes on the classic zombie category.
What’s The Plot?
So we got zombies. Somehow, the zombie outbreak seems to have been limited to Las Vegas. The gambling capital of the world is walled off from the rest of humanity and all that remains inside are zombies. The simply massive Scott Ward, played by (Dave Bautista) manages to fit himself in behind a burger frier and works in a cafe. He’s a veteran of the zombie war, one of those types who could tell you a few things about what went on.
He’s approached by a casino boss who wants to get some his $200 million dollars that sitting in his casino’s vault back before Las Vegas is levelled by a nuke to finish off the whole zombie thing.
The movie seems to be offering the classics. We have limited time to get everything done, a vault that’s impossible to crack and some pretty fast zombies.
What Kind Of Zombies Are In Army Of The Dead?
They’re fast “28 days later” zombies. And no, I don’t know if they’ve actually died and been reanimated which still begs the question whether or not we can even call them zombies. All that’s to be decided still. The more recent trailer does give us lots of insight into the zombies behaviour beyond them being bloody fast.
They seem to be a lot more intelligent than your average reanimated dead. There’s a power hierarchy and even seems to be zombie leadership. Two of the zombies share a moment of passion together too.
There’s also some great contextual zombie stuff to enjoy purely because we’re in Vegas baby. For example, there is a reanimated Elvis impersonator, or at least I’m assuming an impersonator and not the real deal. We also get to see a rarity for the genre in animals being effected too, all thanks to a cameo from a zombie tiger.
Is Army of the Dead a sequel to Dawn of the Dead?
No. While close in name, Army of the Dead is a standalone movie. For now.
Army of the Dead isn’t Zack Snyder’s first rodeo when it comes to zombie flicks. Snyder, who has been in the news recently for his darker cut of Justice League, had his breakthrough directorial moment with “Dawn of the Dead” 17-years ago. But we have to remember that as brilliant as Dawn of the Dead is, that’s actually a remake from the 1978 original directed by the godfather of zombie movies, George A Romero.
Army of the Dead is unlikely to be a stand alone movie with many tipping it to be the start of a whole franchise for Netflix.
Who Is In The Movie?
Army of the Dead features Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Matthias Schweighöfer, Theo Rossi, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma S. Qureshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone, Michael Cassidy.
The big news for this movie is that Dave Bautista gets a leading role. He bloody well deserves is after years of being a supporting actor doing a lot of heavy lifting. It’s also great to see Matthias Schweighöfer playing the German safecracker. I’ve seen him in loads of German stuff and find him hilarious.
What Is The Release Date For Army of the Dead?
Army of the Dead is streaming on Netflix from May 21 2021. Follow the latest news on social media using #ARMYOFTHEDEAD