ARMY OF THE DEAD (How to Fail at Story) EXPLAINED
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- čas přidán 18. 11. 2021
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Army of the Dead is a 2021 American zombie heist film written and directed by Zack Snyder, based on a story he also created. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, and Garret Dillahunt. It follows a group of mercenaries who plan a Las Vegas casino heist amid a zombie apocalypse.
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I will never forget how the daughter legit was obsessed over finding a woman she hardly knew. The result inadvertently causing her father and teammates to die.
Also the said woman to die as well.
And then she barely reacted over it. You would think she'd have been more devastated over failing.
And everyone rants about Nicole from the Dawn of the Dead remake getting everyone killed (when she only caused one death) while Kate gets everyone killed by her actions
Lmao bro it was not her fault they died. It was the other dudes fault for stealing the head & even leaving them behind causing too much time . Granted she played a hand towards the end for that shit but it was literally partially but not all the way her fault
@@MB42427 she got a lot of them killed by going off on her own
They easily couldve just had the Casino Owner hire them to get an Alpha, with their pay being locked in his vault.
That makes more sense🍻😂
Or, they're hired to get an alpha, and they go rogue and try to steal the money from the casino (kinda a bit of Kelly's Heroes).
But considering how easy it was to find (and later kill) an alpha, all they really needed was some mercs and the smuggler, go like a block into the zone with some kinda bait, snatch up an alpha, and then get out. Probably would have taken a couple hours, tops, in movie.
@@lexxstrum well if they go in without the surprise objective odds are the writing for the Alpha's capture wouldve been a bit more cat and mouse, maybe it manages to briefly escape into a building and kill one or two of them from the shadows before getting got
Great premise with a heist during a localised zombie breakout but so poorly done. Great video.
Yup
Unfortunately it wasn't the first to fail at that interesting premise: Resident Evil, anybody??
@@vomeronasal
If the movies followed the games it would have been a huge success.
@@Raccon_Detective. Definitely 👍
It wasn't, it's just that the bandwagon community have nothing to hate at the moment.
Hate bandwagons are an addiction for these people, they literally fiend for something to hijack and ruin.
There are arms dealers who killed tens of millions of people every year, if these bandwagon meme kiddies spent as much energy hating on them then the world would actually be a better place lol
They just didn't take themselves seriously with weak characters who had to be quirky for no obvious reasons.
Just recently rewatched... With a Zack Snyder budget, why didn't they find glasses that fit Dave Bautista's beefy head.
You know what disappointed me the most? When they enter Vegas they show a giant pile of dead zombies that that one woman who worked as a security guard mentions aren't actually dead, just dehydrated because of the sun and that they come back to life when it rains, that's an amazing concept that isn't mentioned again in the entire movie, that would have been a better final battle that what happened at the end. The way i would have done it would have been like this: the truce with the zombies is kept through the entire movie, no killing the zombie queen or anyone else, when the team manages to crack open the vault it starts to rain and the other zombies come back to life, they wander into the casino and not knowing about the truce start attacking the team. The other zombies then in order to keep the truce start attacking the rehydrated zombies and the team has to escape while being in the middle of this giant zombie vs zombie battle. That would have been better in my opinion.
Yup. I so thought it was a foreshadowing of a giant obstacles when they think they've got away. The concept reminded of this one fish in Africa that burrows into the mud when waters dry out and hibernates. The people will then often use the mud for bricks to build homes. And when it rains the fish awake and litterly start climbing out of walls. Seriously missed opportunity.
I like this idea, I’d love to see a zombie free for all.
But then it just becomes essentially the "Riddick" movie; where the real enemy is the Mud Demons (or in this case, the re-hydrated zombies.) You're right it probably would have been a better story overall, but it feels like this just boils down to, original fresh ideas are few and far between.
@@Sykomyke If you ever studied film theory, there are only really 6 conceptual ideas just painted in a different light and written slightly differently.
@Erik Kemeey Exactly, Snyder himself said that he made certain scenes to be used as more spin off stories.
The daughter frequently got on my nerves lol. The movie was fairly trying something. Definitely lacked execution though.
What I really didn't understand was why they parachuted directly into a zombie horde
Style over substance
The no sense of urgency at the end when down to the hour had me screaming internally. I really hate when films do this. It kills what should obviously be a very suspenseful moment. Whenever I see this, I just think of the Dragon Ball Z first Freeza fight where the planet that was supposed to explode in 5 minutes, tool over 13 episodes.
the only thing that caught me off guard on the whole movie was why would the US army attempt a *ground invasion* of a city overflowed with millions of infected lmao. like the Air Campaign of the liberation of Kuwait was just a few days, and that happened with 1990's technology. I think that they would instantly nuke Vegas or use the aircraft that have evolved over the past 30 years to contain the city rather than instantly do a ground invasion. But I guess zombie media needs the military, no matter how realistic or powerful, to fail, because if the military was 100% effective in all zombie media, then the world of The Walking Dead and Left 4 Dead wouldnt exist. Maybe i'm just overthinking it
Dead rising (1) does this better than most, with the military being 100% effective in whiping out the zombies, yet they return because they missed some, there's lots of ways to be creative that just haven't been attempted by anyone
Left 4 Dead has superpowered zombies and a highly infection rate with a gas-based virus where only the immune are safe and even then thwy are carriers who can pass on the virus to others who arent immune.
Have you never read 1 of the logs?
It's Hollywood so of course the military will make dumb decisions or get overwhelmed and lose, especially if it involves aliens or biological threats. After that a rag-tag group of misfits with no military raining will be the one who will defeat the villain.
Forget nukes. Napalm and white phosphorous would a better, safer and radioactive-free alternatives. Or designate Las Vegas as tourism spot for gun owners to use their guns freely on the zombies. Of course, there will always be some scientists and activists who would demand the world to give humans rights to the man-eating/force-breeding smart zombies.
Left for dead has some insanely well thought out lore and so it is wrong to put it near other zombie media with bad lore like the walking dead.
The zombie outbreak in l4d is localized to the eastern coast of the usa and was the result of failed quarantine. The military has already blockaded the cities and conducts bombing raids on key targets that might allow zombies through like bridges. The military in left for dead responds like the real military.
Nukes are also off the table because of such a short time since initial infection, would make the place around it permenantly uninhabitable and is just pointless as the danger of zombies isn't their large numbers but the chance of a zombie reaching an uninfected populace or the virus mutating in some way that changes its infection method like using birds.
They could atleast deployed an AC-130
“Distracted newly married couple in a car filled with explosives” lol I’m dying over here cuz I thought the same thing when it happened
This movie is a good example that Hack Snyder got some serious hubris and that he shouldn't be given this amount of freedom in the future.
Definitely not being allowed to do the script.
I'm surprised that you weren't attacked by a zombie hoard of Snyder fanboys for this.
Just one fluke
@@mechanomics2649 usually it's the other way around
I’m a huge fan of Zack Snyders DC movies but even I agree with this. He isn’t a good standalone writer at all. He needs to have assistance on screenplay like he did on his DC universe
@@Incepted he gets too many ideas and tries to do them all at once like sucker Punch, same with BVS but everything he did was more subtle and not as flamboyant
The Dawn of the Dead remake was as good as it was, because Snyder only directed it, it was written by James Gunn.
Zack Snyder is like Patty Jenkins, both are good directors, but also bad writers.
Exactly what I just said. He has a great style but he can’t write good stories and characters
Omg you're such a sexist! Patty is (insert rant), so brave
@@yodaslovetoy And stunning too! 😆
It is very, very obvious when you know even a little bit about movies.
I've known directors like Zackl. Technically talented but with simply awful creative impulses.
Sounds like Gerorge Lucas.
All of this and not to mention the worst and most unforgettable part of the film, the low depth of field in every frame.
Drinking game: take a shot everytime it gets blurry in the background.
Fatality!
My liver called. He says he hates you.
This was a direct result of having to replace the actor. It's how they got around not resplacing some scenes he was in. One of the shapes in those blurs is the original character.
I watched Army of Theives. REALLY enjoyed it. Very quirky, very fun, and did not make me feel like I used vinegar as eye drops.
Army of theives is a good movie, I would recommend people to watch it. Its a good "popcorn" film
It would have made army of dead better had they released Theives first. His character arch would have been way more enjoyable
Within the first 60 seconds, you broke down everything I didn't like about the movie within the first minute.. wow.. and articulated so well.. wow
Same. I could not make it 20 min. into this movie.
Among other things, I find Zack the absolute king of hackneyed cringey hokey dialogue.
He's creatively bankrupt. He never had that much to work with before, and now that he's "successful" it's painfully obvious.
Glad I'm not alone in being disappointed over this movie. The acting and decision making in the very first scene was NOT a great first impression.
That was fucking terrible, me brain got kinda insulted, but the following Las Vegas Invasion was kinda good
With a premise this outlandish, I didn't expect such a bleak ending. I genuinely thought this was a horror comedy from the trailers
It was almost bad enough to be funny, and not in the good way.
"A black belt in belligerence" definitely going to use that one in the future.
I love when you say “idiotic characters” the camera shows his daughter. Man I hated her character!
I have seen so much criticism and disdain for this movie in the past day lol. I didn’t think there would be so much considering the reviews from critics. Honestly, I do agree that the plot had its shortcomings, especially in terms of overall purpose and the importance of characters, but I do like this movie due to Dave Bautista and how it approaches its zombies. They are more akin to intelligent, predatory animals such as lions or orcas. They have their own hierarchy, code, and drive. It’s like something out of fantasy, and I love it. I do appreciate Zack Snyder’s attention to visual quality and the symbolism that can be strongly present in that. I actually really like his vision for the DCEU and hope Warner Brothers will be smart and let him continue his DC projects. However, his writing has never been his strongest point. All in all, I enjoyed the movie for what it was and look forward to learning more about this interesting movie universe.
I agree with this 100%! Thanks for sharing mate :)
@@filmcomicsexplained You’re welcome. Always enjoy your content. It’s made incredibly well. Plus, it’s just good fun. Keep up the good work.
Not only were the characters very unlikable, it made no difference this movie took place in Vegas than any other city. And this was promoted to hell
This had so much potential, pissed away
Still waiting for the fall of dead space part 2 and 3. 😭😭
Part 2 is coming out next week!
@@filmcomicsexplained next week? 😭😭 okay, thanks for the update
Wait what when was this done??
When I watched this on Netflix 4K I had that dead pixels from one of the cameras and left me horrified for 3 hours thinking my TV was dying....... I heard they removed it since
Only the true movie nerds know about that dead pixel.
The one appreciation I have about this movie is Richard Cheese, who sung the cover of Viva Vegas. He also did the cover for Synder's Dawn of the Dead, being Down with the Sickness. Nice to bring him back.
Ever take part in a brainstorming session where you pick a topic and everyone writes every idea on sticky notes and puts them on a wall, and the facilitator takes all the similar ideas and runs with them? That's what this movie is. A collection of ideas.
I would argue that Tanaka didn't hire them to take the head because they would be the against the idea of granting someone like him a WMD and risking an international outbreak.
True. But, why not actually hire loyal people? He had one. And apparently that's all it took to meet the actual goal.
@@ao7153 I dunno, maybe its because he heard about these survivors and figured they would be the best chance, since they know where to go and stuff.
What mote f up then that, why need safe cracker... Why not just ask the code directly to tanaka... Did he forgot the code 🤣
@@smokey5587 I mean, it's possible? XD
This movie is what happens when you structure a story around an action sequence
Wow, I’ve been frustrated with this movie and now I know why. Thanks. Very well done. I’ve Snyder’s stuff but this one is off balance and it’s clearly due to not having a polished writer involved to work with. The idea was great but wow this was really all over the place. It’s a fun watch but the frustrating stuff especially the daughter was so annoying that it ruined the fun stuff.
The daughter was the most unlikeable character in the movie, and was baggage who got the others killed.
This movie feels like a parody of something that doesn’t exist
Right? Like they fucked up the timeliness and we got this while another universe got the real thing lol
This movie certainly frustrated me in the fact that even before the movie came out, Snyder came out and said that there would be tons of "blink and you'll miss it" moments in the movie, acting like he was trying to paint a bigger picture with more movies and features coming out that would build on those ideas.......and yet.....here we are without any feature to build on them. Army of Thieves certainly didn't. Time loops? Robot Zombies? Aliens? The Zombie likely coming from Area 51 in the first place? A ground assault in the first place to quell the horde? Intelligent zombies?
Nothing worked out and we are just left with......ok time for another outbreak somewhere else.
@Erik Kemeey again, saw it. But for a world Snyder was trying to build, and as quickly as Army of Thieves came out, no further mention has been made. Were they interesting items? Sure, but like I said in my comment, nothing else has been done with it. I was a fan of it, and would like more content to digest.
@@whskyhamr For the robots parts, yes there is nothing consistent. But for the time loops the theory is almost confirmed and will probably be developed in the sequel (and for the aliens it can be explained but doesn't really matters appart for the origins of Zeus)
Love watching your videos, really gives me a good mindset, to make a very good compelling narrative, for the story im currently working on and have been for 2 years. Scifi, tech noir, military movie script
This roast gonna be awesome!
A few months ago I asked if you would do a video on the movie Gargoyles. Where's it at?
J/k
I know you work your butt off on these.
Love the channel.
Best movie synopsis you’ll find, keep up the good work!
Such a great analysis
Thank you :)
@@filmcomicsexplained omg your replied, so honored, I love your videos, they always have such well done reviews, always thorough whether it’s over the movie in general or minor details sprinkled throughout
No worries Joseph! Thanks for stopping by :)
Liked it visually. Missed opportunities for sure but it was aight and I don't regret it
Hell yeah!
I’m enjoying how much more opinion you’re putting into your videos. You used to come off as totally objective, which is fine, but this style is much more entertaining. Your video on Old was really entertaining and I stopped at 5:38 on this video just to drop this comment. Thanks for the laughs, looking forward to the rest.
I think a lot of these movies suffer from that 300 syndrome...too many slow motion shots... yes amazing and cool take from what could be in regards to a story being told...The 300 is around 35 mins if you put slow motion at normal speed...just giving my 2. I did find it entertaining regardless.
They're definitely going to make another "Army of ______" movie, I can't wait for the video on this saga once they've released all the movies they plan on making.
Love your videos, especially the outro music
HELLOOO THANK YOU FOR A NEW VIDEO😃
Would love if you did a Shang-Chi video. Great job as always love watching your videos!
😂 😂 😂 I keep rewatching this film hoping it gets better but l always walk away feeling empty 😂
Can we also mention the pilot constantly in the presence of fuel with a lit cigarette just begging for any slight accident
I just gotta say, the Vincent Vega bit was excellent.
Take the ideas put into this film and give it a 12 episode season at 45mins per episode and it'd be fucking amazing.
I loved the plot I loved the zombies design and the idea of a alpha zombie. I also liked the cast it wasn’t great but it was good or at least fine but felt the film lacked dialogue and the obsession of batistas daughter trying to find a lady she barely knew would’ve made the film a whole lot better
I liked the movie for me it felt like karma like they were the good guys but they got greedy and had to pay for it
Like that guy said they might be in a loop if they all no like the person who backed out they all would be alive
Good afternoon! I enjoy watching this movie alot I am waiting for part 2
Well summarized.
I don't think Zack care much about the story at this point. He just want a distraction from his real life trauma.
Poor guy....Hope he get through this.
I really like the way u do ur intro and outro music 😌 ngl
I was so excited when I heard about this film, boy was it a let down!
This just shows you that no matter the effort or money, you can’t pull off a good film without good writing.
Zack is the king of putting literally everything before a solid story.
He's a hack.
Zack Snyder does not deserve the ridiculous amount of nerd worship he receives. I think he produces mediocre media and nothing is a better example than when he is allowed to "auter" a project.
Oh hey, someone with a brain.
You hit this right on the head ....good video
Thanks!
@@filmcomicsexplained for real it was like you was in my head lol
Ok this isn’t the best idea for Vanderho not being turned but it was extra terrestrial so it could have lied dormant till it hit a population area
A video exploring the connections between Blade Runner and the Alien series would be nice
Thank
Thank
God
For this channel
The daughter ruin it for everybody like seriously all the team would've been able OK maybe 5 of the teammate would've survived if it wasn't for the daughter involvement
It seem as if Army of Thieves gives a better background for this movie making Dieter the main character so in a way yeah nothing else really mattered except the cracking of the safe. Just have to wait for the third one to come out🤷♂️
remove the daughter and this movie gets 100% better
Remove her and at least Ward + Lilly snd peters make it back with some cash!
Army Of Thief's on the other hand was hands down my favorite before the whole zombie apocalypse it was just starting in the movie and I was sad that he was going to die but a cool movie he was searching for the vault sorry I can't spell it it's hard but he got what he wanted.
You cant top aliens. Its like Terminator 2. One of the best Action Films ever.
I enjoyed the movie just as a mindless watch, but once you start think logically and reasonably, the movie falls apart as it feels too convenient in so many aspects
The best part is the opening sequence by far.
You're not wrong on any point. I still enjoyed it. Was still hoping for more. Flawed and dumb. But hints of frustrating promise. Army of Thieves was so much better and fun.
So glad you mentioned those issues, because I was called an idiot for pointing them out😂
Quali problemi? Quelli che hai tu? Haha
Thank you for the shot-for-shot Aliens comparison. Apart from the terrible lack of follow-through on anything except the undead tiger, this useless 'homaging' bugged me the most.
No worries J!
Niat was an absolute savage in this review.
Felt the same way about: Point Break (1991), Heat, Grand Theft Auto > The Town.
A black belt in belligerence 😂
😂
I loved it
Oooo boy here we go 😱🚨💪💪👍👍👑
Glad you called it out. For some reason it recieved a lot of praise.
You can thank Snyder stans for that shit.
@@fulcrum6760 they don't seem like real humans with real human thoughts. It's weird.
@@GameTimeWhy That’s cause that’s what the Snyder cult is.
All Synder needed to do was a spin-off of Dawn of the Dead with this exact heist plot, but without intelligent zombies. aliens, all that stupid shit, but NOOOO... I'm pretty sure Zack needs some actual fucking therapy
A 3 hour movie all because we didn’t build a wall sooner 😔😔😔 just think big wall = no zombies get out 🤔🤔🤔
Nice
Was just fine, I enjoyed it
This describes how I viewed the film, just an amazing visual waste of space. Fantastic review.
can you do Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark plsssssssssssssssssss i love your vids:)
I thought I was genuinely going crazy with the aliens similarities
What I was wondering is how they're going to carry several tons of money in just backpacks
Totally agree. The heist was pointless. 😄
I really enjoyed this movie, it was a fun Saturday 2am movie 🍿. Ditor was definitely the highlight.
After watching this movie for about 90 minutes, I realized that there was still an hour left! Decided to quit and look up why this sucks on CZcams. Yes, you explained it quite well. Glad I didn't waste another hour on this thing.
In the next video: How to make a simple premise even more complicated.
intro & trailer look cinematic and really awesome ...but in middle of movie i just fall asleep.
Because there is nothing happening for 80% of the film :(
I enjoyed watching this film, yeah it's silly but I'm glad I can suspend my disbelief to get the most out of camp romps like this.
I worked on this so no matter what it's a soft spot for me
hahahah the Aliens reference omg!
Just proof no matter how good you are at directing and story telling, you still need people to say "no".
Zack is neither.
Yep...
Frustrated when movies do these epic introductions where that premise would have been 10x then the turd we got
You could have a look at the prequel? I liked it more that the original!
Was literally just on Netflix and considered watching the movie. Then this video comes out. Well damn. Guess not
Good. Save yourself from the cringe.
It's so bad that you'll go nnn not by choice but because your d is so ashamed of your taste in movies that it refuses to get up for a month
@@youtubestudiosucks978 wow your nnn joke was almost as bad as the movie
@@kevooo1250 well i'm sorry that my extra member has it's own refined taste. He also talks in a scottish accent despite me being black... idk know what's going on, maybe aliens or it's a ghost that tried to posses me but got stuck down there
Of all the movies I've watched in my life, I can't think of another one that just pissed away everything it could have been as much as AotD. It just couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Lost plots, terrible characters and awful storytelling. And the chopper pilot was just a terrible incarnation of "anything a man can do a woman can do better".
What if the movie was re-written using what's already there but with what would work, make sense and explore the themes more😍