***Possible mild spoilers ahead ***I had such high hopes for this one. The slow-pacing of the first act promises something more than the typical two-dimensional characters, but it never pays off. When the action finally starts, it's just a sequence of events - this happens then that happens then something else happens. None of the character choices are driven by their backstories, they just do things to move things along to the next set piece. The pacing if awful. Just when the action gets up some steam, we pause for extended, quiet dialog scenes that add nothing to the story. Arguably the two most intiguing characters - the zombie leader and his...girlfriend? Are given no backstory at all. The action pieces are shot well enough, but nothing is all that original or memorable. The dialog is cringe worthy in a typical Zack Snyder way. The musical choices try too hard to be clever (Elvis singing "We're caught is a trap...", the Cranberries classic song "Zombie"...) are just too on the nose to be amusing. Overall the movie is waaaay too long. By the time we hit the 2-hour mark (with another half hour to go!) I had given up caring about any of the charavters and just wanted them to drop the nuke already so I could get on with my life. Snyder fanboys will no doubt love it, as is evident by all the 9 and 10 star reviews, but for the rest of us, this one is easily skipped.
Review of Army of the Dead
