The Baffling Failure of ARMY OF THE DEAD (2021)
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- "Army Of The Dead" had everything going for it. A hefty budget, a novel premise, waves of undead and a director finally cut free of the studio constraints that have plagued his career...so why does almost none of it work?
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#armyofthedead #zacksnyder #tignotaro
I was rooting for this one - but alas - it really, really didn't work out with a few all-too-brief moments of fun. What did you make of it, and how would you rank Snyder's filmography overall?
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you don't see them fucking each other over
This is the second vid of yours (first was southland tales) I've watched and I gotta say, your analysis is exceptional. I subscribed.
I saw the teaser/intro and was psyched, like yes okay I can trust Snyder with this, then Stuckmann reviewed it and loved it, I trusted him, I watched it on Netflix, and my disappointment in both of them is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Oh, and, it makes me retroactively wonder if liking Dawn of the Dead was just me being 14 and stupid
He's using the Nolan lens, cause "it's cool".
"This whole film is a long drive with nothing to talk about." Jesus, man. You didn't have to kill it...it was already dead. Ha
That line is a butchered Modest Mouse reference I included entirely for my own amusement
from interviews Zack always comes off as a passionate, decent human being
it's a real shame that he can't direct for shit
Absolutely. The terrible technical screw ups you'll find in abundance throughout AOTD are clearly the result of someone passionately bounding headfirst down new stylistic avenues without stopping to think "Can I pull this off?" and "Is there literally any reason for me to do these things?"
@Erik Kemeey okay, then he can't visually storytell for shit
Unfortunately can't direct for shit is a desired skill in Hollywood.
He really doesn't understand characters aka humans. Everything is stereotype+cool+cocain. Like why was the head of security oozing with shady when it would have been better to make him likable and helpful so when the betrayal happens, you're questioning his motives in the beginning. Instead he wheres a "YOUR STUPID IF YOU TRUST ME" sign. Or traps are cool like in Resident Evil but Temple of Doom traps in a LV casino is stupid.
@@qelapafu You sum him up perfectly, Zack only cares about character looking cool and acting dramatic. He doesn't know how to make his character human, heck most of his characters acts like they are retarded just for the sake of drama
I actually thought that the on the nose social commentary combined with the ‘intelligent’ zombies was leading to a ‘I am legend’ style twist where the zombies were actually civilized, misunderstood people. It would have actually added weight to the ‘dad kills zombie mom’ plot to find out the mom COULD have been saved. Hell, you could even have the nuke mutate and ‘super evolve’ then at the end.
A good take. Two big omissions though imho:
1) Chambers re-emergence from Martin's attempted murder: takes ages to die to a few zombies only yards away from the main group and gives no warning about Martin.
2) Martin's sub plot about them only actually needing a head renders the whole heist pointless.
Also why Lily Coyote didnt also get inside the chopper while holding the Queen's head hostage..
'Populated with human-shaped placeholders instead of actual characters'. I'm stealing that!
Some say the dead silence that erupted from the Easy peazy joke was so potent that it actually caused people to go mute afterwards. Still speechless right now
The fact they had the great Hiroyuki Sanada utter those words sends a shiver down my spine. God - I wouldn't be surprised if they made his character Japanese just so they could make that joke
Thank you for talking about the awful subtext of the movie. Specially want to write that by highlighting the attributes of the zombies and how they operate as a civilization, it portrays the US president wanting to intervene and nuke them as the only solution to be totally righteous and justified.
And this was supposed to be anti-wall allegory, apparently.
You know you've fucked up as a film maker when your message ends up being the exact opposite of what you supposedly intended
Actually, I see this happening a lot with anything having to do with the border. I think writers see a wall and just "go there" but then do not stop to think what the wall is meant to do in the story. Walls are meant to keep things out. Like obviously Game of Thrones. And in these kinds of stories , the wall is there FOR GOOD REASON. It keeps out very bad crap. But if you try to bring in politics, it clashes with that completely as if you are arguing there should not be walls, then you are basically arguing you should allow in terrible things that will murder you.
"The most misogynistic film ever made about why misogyny is bad" is a bloody amazing line
When i first saw Army of the dead I thought it was going to be a spin off of Game of Thrones. It appears that the film is as good as the final season of GOT
Weirdly - the head of the zombies is uncannily similar to the chief of the White Walkers - and is killed of in just as rubbish a way
The alleged UFOs, the alleged time travelers or the final scene of the plane heading to Mexico. It is just an excuse that ZACK uses from movies like BatmanVSuperman or much more shameless in Justice League.
He does it so that people say, I am interested in that of the UFOs or of the travelers in the time or of a possible sequel.
Because you know that if you do not put that in the movie, nobody is interested in seeing a sequel or second part. That's why I put so many unresolved plots in Justice League, because he knows that it is a claim to say: I am interested in what they presented in the movie, because the main plot is very weak if not very mediocre.
Yeah but you do realise there os a prequel anime coming up next year and a prequel movie about the german safecracker
SO if you think Zack is just using it as a excuse then it shows you are wrong by the way, the ufos do appear at the beginning of the movie if you did not pay attention
"I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards." 😂 True story: I met Matthew Holness once at a film event and asked him what his problem with the Scots was? Given that he'd said some pretty nasty things...
How did he respond? 😂
@@inframeout Ah he just laughed and said his wife was Scottish. He was really lovely. Very smart. And actually he's not lying - completely randomly I also saw him once in a cafe just outside Falkland a few years ago with his missus so his story checks out 😂
if this film replaced all of the sequel-bait scenes with actual character development moments or opportunities for the chracters to act logically, it might have been a decent movie
I had this flick on in the background as I did laundry and cleaned my house, and I still feel like I wasted 2.5hrs. Great breakdown
Like you, I really "enjoyed" the opening title sequence of the movie but found myself bored and totally uncaring for any of the cast or their stories. It is wild that Snyder can make such provocative and interesting title sequences AND follow them up with overlong dull messes.
If you stretched every one of those interesting vignettes in the opening out to five minutes and made the movie about a heist *during the fall of Vegas* while all those things are going on - you'd have a much, much better movie - and certainly a film that isn't so unbearably dull
Release the Whedon Cut!
This was such a wonderfully constructed analysis. You managed to perfectly articulate and encapsulate my mixed emotions upon watching this movie. Kudos!
Do not worry there are prequels that explain the zombie universe,
like army of thieves and lost vegas
@@dikiiieykick1734 still man you gotta accept movie has a alot of fucking flaws
Snyder does seem like a nice guy, but geez does he have a bizarre relationship with rape scenes, homophobia, and general fascist sympathies.
Absolutely. He also plans on adapting the libertarian Bible that is "The Fountainhead" - which couldn't sound worse if you tried
And Zombie babies.
I literally take multiple moments in the video to state how I like a number of his films and go so far as to defend a number of the common criticisms levelled at him...
Yet you have the tenacity to call me "Biased" for disliking an extremely flawed film, when you yourself are willfully ignoring each and every narrative, technical, directorial and editorial flaw because of your own blinding worship of Zack Snyder (a millionaire director who doesn't care what I think and certainly doesn't give a shit about you).
Oh - and Snyder smeared himself the second he smeared every shot in this boring, underwritten and overlong mess with Vaseline
I resonate a lot with this video. A lot of people seem to brand army of the dead as "dumb fun" because, I think, a lot of them have a biased view for Zack Snyder due to his Snyder cut shenanigans. Credit where credit is due but this was unfortunately not a good movie by any means
The thing is - something has to be "fun" to be "dumb fun". Beyond the excellent opening credits sequence - almost the entire film is just poorly lit, blurry scenes of boring characters waiting for a vault to open
@@cloudsombrero who?
"I made an awful looking, visually scattershot smudge of a film...but it's okay because I made it bad on purpose" is a very, very strange defense
10:55 "A Failed Skin Flute Recital"... oh man, I burst out with laughter at that phrase.
Zack Snyder is possibly my biggest disappointment. I loved Dawn of the Dead when it came out (still do to some extent), enjoyed 300, and was really looking forward to Watchmen when he signed up for it. I was probably one of his biggest cheerleaders back then.
And then I saw Watchmen, and it just didn’t work for me. It felt like Snyder had just completely missed the point of the book, and just fallen back on making everything look “cool” and “awesome.” Which just isn’t Watchmen for me. Snyder’s filmography has just been a downward trend since then, but I’d keep going back to his movies hoping with each movie that he’d learn from his mistakes and grow as an artist. Until BvS just broke me.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Snyder’s best movies (imho, of course) are probably the ones he had the least creative control over. As much as we all like to stand up for a creator’s artistic vision, there are some times when it can be a good thing for a studio executive to step in and say “no,” especially when so many of the problems with said creator’s filmography can be summed up with the phrase “you can have one or the other, you can’t have both”
EDIT: Take a shot every time I use the word “just”
Snyder needs two things;
A good writer and someone to say "Before you can do this shot - explain why it matters and what it achieves - and you ARE NOT just allowed to say 'It Looks Cool'"
@@inframeout - it’s funny you should say that, because... well... here’s the thing;
I studied art and drama in school, and majored in film production as part of my film & TV studies course at university. In all three cases, when it came to coursework, you had to justify all of your creative choices in front of both the tutor and the class in order to get a good grade, and “because it looks good” was *never* seen as an acceptable justification. The emphasis was for you to demonstrate that you had put genuine thought and work into the project.
And every single time you could tell who had put the work in and who hadn’t; it would be in their posture, where their eyes would look when they spoke, the little staccato “ums” and “ahs” that would punctuate their speech, the tiny contradictions from one sentence to the next. All these micro gestures that add up and illustrate the fact that the guy is just bullshitting his way through the assignment, just to avoid those four words he *really* actually wants to say: “because it looks good”
(And I’m not going to give anybody any stick for that, I’m man enough to admit I’ve bullshitted my way through a couple of assignments in my time)
But the funny/sad thing is, ever since Watchmen, in literally every single interview I’ve seen him give, Zack Snyder has all the exact same tells I’ve seen from an entire classroom of GCSE art students. And the sadder thing is I’d probably have more respect for him if he was just honest and came out and said those four words.
@@frederickcolombs7709 yes
Yes and it's still utter dreck
@@frederickcolombs7709 nope, I’d call it a waste of time.
Which is why I haven’t watched it.
The chainsaw in this movie to this day baffles me. I was willing to give Snyder a go again after being released by WB so me and my partner sat down to watch this in good faith.
I saw the opening title and was immediately getting my hopes up, I followed that massive chainsaw all throughout the movie thinking 'they set this up so well, I wanna see some zombies get chainsawed.'
At no point after the opening title sequence do zombies get chainsawed, when they finally use it Bautista and daughter use it to open a frickin' grate.
Insanity.
7:40 probably my favorite part 🤣🤣
We've all been at a gig where someone doesn't know when to lay off the effects pedals. Finally - I have a platform to make fun of those people.
@@inframeout I sensed the catharsis in your tone, made it all the more hilarious and satisfying, thank you 😂
The fact that zack snyder's justice bloat has made director's cut marketable and desirable again makes ALL OF THIS worth it.
Give me the "Freddy Got Fingered" directors cut
His fans are asking for Snydercuts of other directors work. What they mean is Directors Cut. Film literacy is taken a hit of late.
I give it to him on that. But the thing is it should been a good movie from the start. The director cut does make the movie a littke bit better. But it should been good from the start. It like he purposely tanks s movie.just so he can doma synder cut.
That guitar pedal reference and swearing caught me off guard…I felt it on a biological level
I also really really wanted to love this.
The zombie tiger really was the best bit, perhaps because it had one of the few foreshadowing teases that paid off...
Also the silent hill nurse homage zombies, and subsequent fight scene with ersatz Vasquez.
Loved the opening, agree it should've been the actual damn movie.
And Tig did good.
But just a sloppy mess, and promising more spin off slop. Ah well.
It's such a total waste. How do you make a heist movie and then forget to do the goddamn heist?!
@@inframeout No heist, and no rehydrated zombie horde! Feels like they dropped a few post-it notes during filming. 🧟
Those hybernating zombies and that scene were almost a beat for beat direct ripoff of the hybernating Darkseeker scene from I Am Legend.
Where it worked there was because those creatures die in sunlight, it makes no sense on AOTD. It's only there for it's action sequence with the terrible ending.
Definitely not a reference to Silent Hill.
Army of the Dead was abysmal on so many levels. The father-daughter dynamic was horrible, with the daughter being so incredibly annoying.
I don't like all of his work, but I respect the man because when he swings, he swings big and unapologetically for the fences, even if sometimes all he hits is air.
Agreed. He's got more ambition than most - even if that's usually his downfall
Also, is it me, or has the Dawn of the Dead remake aged incredibly well...like, watch it in 2021 and see if you don't feel it's even more prescient now.
Having rewatched it for this video (probably my eighth viewing overall) Gunn's screenplay does way more than you'd expect with the premise
This film has no redeeming features, NONE.
I agree with your cuts, I would also say they could have changed the "we only wanted the head of the Alpha" sub-plot to be a "nice to have" by the security guy (and for future sequel-bait), but still make the Heist the primary purpose of the film. Switch it up to be something like Diamonds/gemstones/some other small MacGuffin instead of cash in the vault because clearly _someone_ on the crew would have calculated that 200M was too heavy to carry out, and you'd have a much more fun film.
This passes my test of a good video essay for a movie I've never watched. I am digging your channel.
As bad as it is, I made a joke in another comment thread about how it's interesting that Zeus was monogamous and how that it was confusing, only to now learn that the "raping prisoners" subplot that was thankfully removed. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of movie Snyder even though he was making, the tone was already all over the place and that would have made it even worse. When making a nice meal, you don't use every spice in the spice rack, he doesn't seem to understand that.
Look man what is wrong with you do you want a fun zombie movie or a serious movie about zombies you think you understand how this guy thinks or what,
The guy probably is having is having prequels movies ready for this universe wow you are claiming how "BAD HIS MOVIES ARE"
Whta did you expect from this movie maybe you should go and watch Christopher Nolan movies
How does oh he made this movie for prequals an sequals an all that justifies a dumb movie
I think I'll stick with "Z Nation". At least it knows what it is and has fun with it.
I've heard that show is shameless, self aware shlocky fun
Yep it just a show that like let's be stupid. Had a man get high with a zombie. Had them kill a bunch of zombies with the liberty bell. Because it fell of back if truck. It was just good stupid fun. An they don't take it seriously
your videos are consistently top-notch.
just wanted to let you know that. 🤙
That's increcibly kind of you to say. Thanks so much for leaving such a nice comment (I have had to wade through A LOT of abusive messages from Snyder bro's today so this was much needed)
I had high hopes for this movie but the story and the characters are just so bad. No other word for it.
Same. Especially given my fondness for "Dawn Of The Dead", as well as the notion of Zack Snyder working on an original IP without Warner Brothers calling the shots...but it really, really doesn't pan out in any way.
@@inframeout Since they even mentioned the "looping" story I really wish they went in that direction. It could have ended up cheesy, but in my opinion it would surely be better than what we got.
At least that would have been a fresh or in some way fun take on the zombie formula. As it stands - they just dumped every good idea into the credits sequence and then left the rest of the film as a boring husk
@@inframeout the way people talk, it's like only Snyder and David Ayers are directors who have to deal with studios...every other "DC" director that works with WB (Patty Jenkins, Cathy Yan, James Wan, James Gunn, David Sandberg and Todd Phillips) made good to great films working in the exact same ecosystem that Snyder continues to deride. You never hear a peep out of those directors about WB interfering, James Gunn has actually has gone so far to say the opposite in that he's been able to do everything he wanted and he never had that at Marvel. So while it's funny that even a few weeks ago while Zack Snyder is _still_ railing on Warner Brothers, this movie kind of shows that maybe Snyder is his biggest problem, not the Studio.
It's gotten to the point where Synder/Ayer fans have accused James Gunn of lying about how he was able to just make the film he wanted to make.
2:50 imo, gahoole is also one of his better films
sure, it isnt as memorable as the books, its more action packed than the source material (tho at least it doesnt go against like watchmen) and the side characthers coudl have been better explore on a bigger format, but still an enjoyable fantasy adventure film with a pretty decent tie-in game even.
I have a lot of time for extremely slow motion owl fights
@@inframeout yeah i agree it has problems, but i feel its also worth mentiong as the "stand outs of zack synder" filmography.
and honestly, out of all the movies, this is probably the only one i could see with some franchise/sequel potential, sadly it wasnt the caase
"Boom double headshot " has to be some kind of acknowledgement of FPS Doug from Pure Pwnage.
Man, I'm so happy there are people that found it hard to look past all these issues. I am capable of enjoying a dumb popcorn flick, but there's a limit to how much I can ignore. Folks on my Facebook all loved the movie. I thought I was being a critical douchebag for hating this movie. My immediate thought when the end credits rolled was that the movie was frustrating to watch.
That's the thing - people are defending it saying it's "A Dumb Popcorn Flick" but nothing the film actually attempts backs that claim up. There's barely any action, bravado, quips or fun of any kind to lay claim to. It's just an underlit mess.
A superb analysis of the movie with excellent use of metaphors and images to illustrate your points. I watch a LOT of RUclips review videos as I link them on my cult movies website (18.8 million views) but this is the first one in ages that has blown me away, You have another subscriber and I'll be sharing this with as many people I think will be interested!
That's overwhelmingly kind of you. Thanks so much for giving us a shot 😊
The safe cracker is the best character. That’s we got the far superior prequel.
Its days like this were I wish Paul Verhoeven was still making movies.
Paul Verhoeven has a new film coming out this year!
I thought I couldn't stress enough how dumb this movie was but here you are handing me more ammunition. Zombie movies (Snyder's Dawn of the Dead in particular) typically have characters making stupid decisions to get killed. And they love the whole 'humans are the real monsters' thang. But boy does this movie take it to ridiculous levels. The whole Geeta subplot. Wow. Leaving your kids and sneaking into a zombie invested city to try find some money for your kids doesn't come off as parental desperation. It's just straight up dumb. And Mr rapey security guard guy goes in for a mere 20k. What's probably not even a year's salary for a job with let's be real, a less than 5% survival chance. I'd probably say 1%.
You could seriously cut 40 minutes and multiple characters from AOTD and the film would in no way be worse for it
What do u use to edit with? Your vids look so good. 👍 💯
I couldn't bring myself to watch it (kind of a running theme with my life nowadays), and usually I can't stand when something or someone is censored or removed entirely from a piece of art, as a sacrifice to the mob. Having said that, I will totally make an exception for Chris D'Elia.
you should watch the video where he finds out that snapchat doesnt delete videos/photos from chat messages. Dude totally gives himself away
@@arjunwali9885 I've seen that; it's priceless. Right up there with his now-infamous "Oh rilly, duuuude? Hahahaaa..." speech/clip. Total slime, through and through. Nothing but the worst for him, please.
Flange is totally the effect a noob guitarist will inappropriately shoehorn into everything.
Closely followed by wah wah and "post rock delay/tremelo"
Don't forget the Digitech Whammy.
That pedal is a true son of a bitch
I thought this movie basically was just like his version of Justice league. He needs reigned in to be good. He just stuffs everything into movies where he has control over them. In Justice league, he puts in like ten characters that has nothing to do with the actual movie and a whole teaser of a future movie into the movie he is actually doing. He is really the movie equivalent of the old saying a great writer really needs an editor.
2 years later, and it really does seem like Snyder learned very little from Army of the Dead's failings judging by what I saw of Rebel Moon based on the trailers. Outside of the grand mythology that he created, it suffers from the same visual issues (due to once again being his own cinematographer), has the same level of excess as that film did but on a significantly grander scale, will likely falter just as badly on the writing side (due to also writing it with the same writers as his zombie film), and the most damning part, Netflix gave him all of the budget and resources to make not one, but two films because his script was massive enough to make him split it into a two-parter, and he also has enough footage to cobble together an R-rated directors' cut ala the Justice League Snyder Cut for *both parts* as well. At least this costs less than The Gray Man for both parts combined.
The fact that Netflix is betting so hard on this being their premiere franchise that will help them compete with the other major studios and their franchises, complete with plans for a significant multimedia empire, really bodes ill for this whole enterprise.
That Netflix genuinely believed that Rebel Moon was suitable for a *70mm* screening in theaters is beyond naïve. That they believed that they and Snyder could replicate the "SnyderCut" with their R-rated director's cut down the line is precious. That Snyder believed that he could start a massive franchise that Netflix can milk into something that can compete with the film studios is hubris beyond all belief considering what we actually got.
And like, this isn't dealing with a studio that will push back. This is Netflix, where they gave Snyder complete creative control on everything, including the decision to split the film up into two parts and making both PG-13 and R rated versions. Snyder cannot blame anyone but himself for the critical failure of this film. In trying to appeal to the casual audiences and his own Snyder base, he has effectively made a film that absolutely appeals to no one as a result. But I'd really like to know what you think of it when it comes out.
It also features something that is becoming a cinema and TV bugbear of mine: bookish geeks who allegedly devote all their time to a cerebral, indoors obsession but are somehow incredibly shredded in the way only someone who spends hours a day in the gym could be.
The golden age of computer programmers who are also inexplicable martial arts masters and expert marksmen
The final cut is the deepest...man that's a great quote!
The South Park-esque clucking between sections 👌🏻
For how much I truly disliked most of this film, aside from the opening credits sequence, I have to love it for introducing me to Matthias Schweighofer. He directed a vastly superior prequel, and I'm currently enjoying his Amazon show You Are Wanted.
It wasn't what I was hoping it would be. I thought it would lean into a silly black comedy style that I really dislike in zombie movies. It didn't, however it wasn't much fun period. Kind of slow. Not much actual zombie action at all. Some of the cooler elements were just ripped from other IPs and for a 2 and a half hour movie I want way more zombie fights and less boring character development that really only develops our main character to the point of "Has a daughter. Daughter thinks he's a crap dad. The end"...
Absolutely spot on. It's not that it tries a lot of things - it's that it does absolutely none of them well. Not to mention a tone that's inconsistent at best and nonsensical at worst
Great video! :)
Thank you very much for the kind words
The most insane thing is that Snyder, despite all his flaws, was mostly hailed for his visual flair and storytelling, knowing that characters and dialogue wasn't his forte. But now, where he actually was responsible for basically everything, it shows that he simply is a pretentious creator, who managed to get the help of better people to create something many (not me) liked a lot.
This rings very true, and reminds me of George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels somewhat.
This is why I hate auteur theory
Are there actually people who like the muted colors without contrast look that so many movies and series use nowadays?
A well done video, touching on all of the issues I had with the movie, save a few, (I really felt the Zombie Tiger kill was gratuitous and pointless.) Nevertheless, your information that zombie rape was something that the creators seriously wanted to include in this dumpster fire, makes me hate this movie on a whole new level. So, well done! My disgust for this abomination grows yet stronger, threatening to engulf us all. Seriously though, great video, I am now subscribed.
Will someone finally just smash that Zoltar machine? Hollywood has been filling up with 11 year olds who wished to be "big." Little Mickey Bay, little Georgie Lucas, and the troubled Snyder child from down the road, to name a few.
I maintain Snyder's Dawn of the Dead sucked royally, actually. Anything remotely good in it is down to what remained of Gunn's script, the actors, and that Richard Cheese cover of Down With the Sickness which is admittedly fire and honestly the only moment I enjoyed in the whole thing. George A. Romero set out to make a satire with the original; Zack Snyder set out to make a zombie movie. And even failed at that because he apparently liked 28 Days Later but not enough to pay attention to the fact it doesn't have any zombies in it. It completely misses the point. And there's some really bad shots in it, lol. It is not a good movie; it is an infinitely worse remake.
Skin Flute Recital will now be used in my every day vernacular. Or the name of my Thrash Metal band that will never happen
I fuckin' lost it at "cut off his nose just to look different" lmao
found this film average also they would not have got all that money into 1 helicopter.
Are the Canon lenses the same kind of lenses (not the same I know) that Stanley Kubrick used for Barry Lyndon?
The lenses for "Barry Lyndon" are different - and were originally designed for NASA so they could take pictures on the moon without additional lighting (which made them perfect for Kubrick's all natural/candlelight approach)
Synder is a good cinematography and that's it. What I means is someone else needs final say in directing, script, production. What happens when you overindulge with control and budget.
Great review of this zombie movie.
While we should avoid sticking to our own political echo chambers wherever possible, Snyder often uses aggressively conservative subtext that makes much of his filmography hard to stomach for me. This looks no different and it'll be a skip.
You know what's really weird? I believe he sincerely thought this was an anti-wall/pro integrated society film that he fucked up so much that it wound up as the exact opposite
Skip it because it's a bad film, the politics is very minor if at all...at the very least, all the other problems with the film make it barely noticeable at all.
What's even stranger is that Snyder has publicly stated that he is a lifelong Democrat and voted for Biden.
That Alien Ant Farm line tho
3:15 *Zack Snyder in a nutshell*
I stopped being baffled as soon as I learned Zach Snyder made the film.
Still baffled as to why they keep letting him make films. I guess if you make enough bad superhero films, eventually you'll accrue enough fans to be considered a success - mostly because some people can't resist loving the characters, no matter how badly he does them.
I completely get what you're saying about Tig.. but I gotta say I found her cringey. It was like a try-hard caricature of the wry badass. And by the time she was [not] communicating the state of the helicopter over the radio (which had the real consequence of her team not knowing they might need to find another way out) and STOPPING ESCAPING TO DROP MORE WRY WIT when a literal nuclear bomb is bearing down on them.. I just.. ugh. It's not Tig's fault, it's the writing. A character can fail at their job, they can obscure that failure to the team, but the written reason shouldn't be "because she wanted to be funny over the radio".
What’s more demanding than this bumbling film that rips off Aliens? Snyder is being granted a fortune to realize his Star Wars film. Rebel Moon would’ve been an exciting idea to think about. Perhaps a Star Wars film with the grit and beauty of his Watchmen. But I’m worried it’ll most likely just be Army of the Dead in Space. A mediocre, ugly, lifeless drag.
I feel like you can no longer do a straight zombie story. They've been overused as apocalypse villains to the point you cannot take them seriously as threats. Which is why this movie should have been something like From dusk till dawn. A supernatural action comedy with no real attempt at depth or social commentary. In 2022 no one really takes zombies seriously anymore.
The thing is, if they'd made the opening credits sequence the movie, it would have been great!
Why did you reverse all the footage from the trailers? I's really annoying.
So as to avoid bogus claims on the footage
I loved Dawn of the Dead but after that Zack Snyder made a series of self indulgent overrated films, I was hoping Army of the Dead would serve as a return to form, how little I knew...
I’m surprised that Mexicans = Zombies comparison was a surprise to anyone, seeing as Zack Snyder is a fucking libertarian, and if I remember correctly verbally supported the wall
@Erik Kemeey libertarianism is built on selfishness over selflessness and I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people, and serve others instead of yourself.
@@nathanielhaven3453 That's more Objectivism, which is an Ayn Rand ideal and as we know Snyder is a big Rand-head. You can really see the Rand influence on MoS, BvS and the Snyder Cut of JL, which are basically the "Superman Shrugged" trilogy.
@@andrewshandle Yes, but I haven't met a single libertarian who didn't ascribe to objectivism in some way
@@nathanielhaven3453 well, the main difference is Objectivism's straight distain for things like Altruism because it's literally the antithesis of it as a philosophy. Being selfish is the corner stone of Objectivsm. A Libertarian believes, as long as the government doesn't tell you you _have_ to do it, altruism and being unselfish is just fine.
Those are pretty huge, fundamental differences. One believes (or is at least fine with) in the idea of charity and unselfishness, one does not.
Hell, the daughter is the only one who shows any sort of altruism in the movie and it results in basically everyone who was going to escape dying, I doubt that is a coincidence with what Snyder believes.
One thing I noticed that no one else is really talking about with this film is how useless the heist is once the ulterior motive (getting a zombie head to sell to the military) is revealed. Why didn't the henchman sent in with the group just leave through the coyote entrance once he got the head? Why does the heist even exist when all they needed to do is enter Vegas, get zombie head, and leave?
How hard is it to get one zombie head - given we see them gunning down hundreds in the opening credits alone?
Noticed and appreciated the Modest Mouse reference even if no one else has
YES!!!!!! You are indeed the first to notice
Finally someone mentions the Aliens rip off angle
It's so constant and blatant - but far too prevailing to be a fun little nod
There are SO MANY direct quotes, plot points, and visual references. The pilot's hand smearing blood on the helicopter windshield, the red bandana, the airship taking off and then returning at the last minute... oh man, oh man. It hurts me to my very soul. "Aliens" is my favorite movie. Given the choice between ever watching this again, and watching "Aliens" for the (probably) 15th time? I know which I pick.
Terrific analysis.
As far as I know WATCHMEN is the only film I can rally appreciation. The rest are crappola . . . 300 is just style. Yep, nothing real, historically accurate or even has much feeling. It's kinda difficult to feel for characters who are supposed to be GOD like and have no weaknesses. Sucker Punch might have meant to be a female empowered thing . . . Maybe? Justice League . . . Ugh, there's a long list . . .
Snyder' entire body of work are train wrecks. The only good segment of his entire career was the first 11 minutes of his Dawn of the Dead remake. The reason why is that is did an excellent job at conveying the world as it normally is and then having the characters waking up into a reality that is no longer normal. After that opening credit sequence, the film and the rest of Snyder's filmography became nothing more than style over substance with a lack of story and character motivations that make any sense. All you pointed out as flaws in this video is basically what Snyder does regularly. I just think that with Army of the Dead, people are waking up to the fact that Snyder is not a good film director and never was.
Man of steel is a great film... It's so entertaining. Stupid as shit, but entertaining. This film was just a stupid let down.
I went to the cinema with a few freinds to watch MOS and we all loved it. Even at the time I said, if the movie gave you the time to think about it you woyld realise how stupid it was but luckily before you would have to long to think about it characters would start throwing each other through building again. Good fun. I was really surprised at the reaction it got after. I shouldn't be really though. People still think The Dark Knight is a great film. A masterful performance does not make a great film. I'm Sparta.. I mean I'm Batman.
Army of the dead just allows you to think how stupid it is to the point of asking when is something going to happen.
Netflix also released the best zombie thing in at least a decade. Kingdom. Kingdom is amazing.
Trying to sit through Sweet Tooth right now. Another disappointment.
Here’s something you may not expect to see on here: I Fucking loved it. ❤️
It was fun. I have the ability to suspend disbelief. We all have our own tastes, likes/dislikes, and I really enjoyed it, because I didn’t over think it afterwards. Some do. This video caters to those who do.
I am perfectly capable of suspending my disbelief. It's just that - beyond the opening title sequence - it's a self serious, fun-free slog
@@inframeout Suspense of disbelieve is a misnomer. It implies an active part. There is no such thing. You don't decide to do it; it just happens when you are presented with an intelligently crafted story in that you can immerse yourself. Implying that people just need to switch off their brains. And this is somehow their fault is disingenuous at best. At worse, this statement comes from an intellectual nitwit who is generally not accustomed to using his/her brain.
The scene at the vault with them getting zombie to trigger the grapes oh it is from another movie. It from guardians of the Galaxy. Rocket an the blue man was trapped in cell an needed root to get the controller for his arrow. An kept bringing stupid stuff. Which they could made it funny with that but nope. It fell flat
Oh my god you're totally right
Not to meantion bastia charter in this movie is a straight rip off of the character rock playes.in the run down . That movie he played a mafia enforcer someone they send in to collect things from people. But he wants out an want to start his own restursnt so he he carries notebook around with him. S notebook ful of recipes ideas. Anytime he comes up with something new he writes it down in his notebook. Which for someone serious about opening up a restaurant that would be something they do. An that was running gag through that movie. An with this one but it didn't pay off in this movie. Didn't seem like batisa character was even concerned about opening up a food truck
The only cut I disagree with you on is the time loop. Really I took that as a bit of dark humour hazing of the inexperienced character. I really don't think they were going for a subplot there.
While I won't defend Bright the movie, I will defend the idea of it. The problem was probably the director, who's is basically Zack Snyder, Jr. when it comes to making excuses for how bad his movies are. Honestly, looking at his films, I have no idea how Fury and End of Watch were so good compared to everything else he's directed.
7:49 AND JUST LIKE
THE MOVIES
"WE PLAY OUT OUR LAST.....
...SCENE"
Gah. I have to comment to say that although the wrong Missy is awful, Lauren Lapkus is genuinely funny on comedy bang bang, threedom, and in live improv shows. She just seems to keep making poor choices with movie scripts.
This is the second video I've seen skewering this film. The other one focused mostly on the nonsensical plot, so there's little overlap between them. But both are entirely correct. Army of the Dead is trash.
Edit: the other video is by Filmento. It's very good.
Oh I'll have to check their video out! Thanks for the recommendation!
So what if it is trash
It wasn't even hours later that he turns. It was like a day maybe two. And not that he turned. He looked down and boom a bite. Like he didn't know it was there. Aside from what you talked about. But why does a casino bank vault have the same security as scrooge McDuck. It was a casino bank vault. WTF. And if it was his why didn't he just give them the codes to get in. And there is no way they are moving so fast and easy with the fuel on their backs like that. No fly zone means NO FLY not you can't fly in but flying out is ok. I think if they dropped the entire hesit and just made it about getting the Alpha's head it could uave saved a bunch. Just make the plot. The main guy's daughter got bite but a weak zombie and they need the head to make a cure. Or another outbreak started and the head will make people immune. I wanted this to be good so bad but I've only seen it once and i don't think i can go back.
I absolutely agree that they needed to simplify it or just take the amazing opening credits scene and make that the movie
I don’t think the film ever actually proposes this time loop theory. I felt it was pretty clear the audience was meant to piece together. Our heroes of this movie aren’t special, and they aren’t the first group sent to do this job. I don’t know why you take the dialogue of a single character as fact? That’s pretty unfair. You’ve taken the dialogue completely out of it’s context. This is equivalent to a villain in an anime saying he’s unstoppable, and you’re confused later when he’s defeated. Not all dialogue is literal.
I dislike the gore of zombie films, as I am a sensitive snow flake, but god that tiger might make me watch this.
Unfortunately - the tiger is in it for a whopping two minutes and only kills one person. That being said - there's almost no gore in this film of any real substance
This film was a slog to finish. Too many characters, too many out of focused shots, too many Batista crying scenes, they dropped the ball. Netflix, get better projects, stop greenlighting based on numbers. Bring back Mindhunter why dont you...
God what I wouldn't give for more "Mindhunter"
@@inframeout and they were about to get into the crazy 80s too! Bundy, Gacy, I dont like mondays, copycats, the "violent films breeds violence" arguments, just say no, consumer age. I hope they bring it back 🍻
It's a typical Snyder film. Promises to be great but delivers absolute and utter SHIT. As have all his movies
Why are you exoecting so much? It is a fun bad movie there is a place for fun bad movies just being entertaining. Yall expect too much in my opinion. This was never going to the oscars
Can anyone tell me what that is at 0:27? I feel dumb. Thanks!
If you're referring to the black and white footage - it's from the film "Roma"
@@inframeout Ah thank you, should have watched that years ago!
I love his remake of Dawn of The Dead and Watchmen...mwah, Chef's kiss.
But this movie looks just really bad.
Umm nipe
Love your stuff but I'm not gonna watch it despite a great title and premise I knew as soon as realized Andrew Ryan 2.0 was directing it was gonna be some bullshit at least Dave Bastia got paid thought
Give me Korean Movie..Train to Busan 2(Peninsula)...similar story line done better...Group go's into Infested Area to steal money.
I made a movie review of Army of the Dead. My review was as bad as the movie 😂😂😂
This film was just plain crap. An insult to all Zombie film fans.
I just cannot fathom how Snyder made this set-up so boring