I know that's a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but in this case you can check my ratings history to see that it's true, having rated only around a dozen or so movies a 2 or lower. One of them being another Zach Snyder movie (Justice League), while Batman v Superman and Man of Steel didn't fare much better. I guess it's fair to say Snyder ain't exactly my favourite director, though not because I want to. Watchmen is one of my all time favourite movies, and I even somewhat liked Sucker Punch for the ridiculousness that it is. I want to like his movies, but increasingly I end up blatingly hating them. So what makes Army of the Dead so especially repugnant for me?
First and foremost, it's the terrible screenplay. The story itself is just so poor, filled with plot holes and conveniences that make me roll my eyes way too much. I don't expect Oscar worthy level of writing from a zombie heist film, but basic competence is the least I ask for. When your very first scene consists entirely of people doing the dumbest things possible, you know you're in for a wobbly ride.
It feels like the script has not been proof read and the very first draft has been used. This idea is further supported by the fact that the movie is at least 45 minutes too long, classic case of the writer not wanting to kill his darlings. Which is what happens when you let your director also write the movie.
Then there are the horrible characters that were all awful and desperately unlikeable. They are all incredibly one-dimensional, with the possible exception of Dave Bautista's character who is at least given some sort of backstory. The father-daughter relationship was supposed to be the backbone of the movie, but the daughter's actions were so stupid that I really couldn't care for a second about it.
Worse were the two 'evil' human characters that were so laughably one-dimensional that they might have well been twirling their mustache and laughing maniacally everytime they were on screen (which I feel they might have actually done at some point). They were just thrown in there to have them been mauled in the worst ways possible and make us cheer instead of being repelled by it, which should be the case when humans get shredded by flesheating zombies. It's exceptionally cheap writing which showcases an inability to write any sense of moral ambiguity into your movie.
Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this kind of movie, needing some sort of depth in my story instead of mindless cheap action and gore. And while I don't mind a bit of humor in my action movies, I think what Snyder wrote could barely constitute as such. Making a nerdy character scream like a little girl everytime he encounters a zombie is just not my idea of funny, sorry.
Ultimately, it all feels incredibly cheap. From the writing to the production to the cinematography it feels like a blown up student movie. The actors did their best, but the fact that the cast is entirely C-list does not do the movie any favours. It makes each character more forgettable than the last and makes me not care at at all about any of them.
Occasionally, Snyder does some interesting visual things, but man please let him stay as far away as possible from the writing table. Watchmen was a great movie, mostly because it stayed pretty close to the amazing source material. That's when Snyder's visual style actually enhances a movie. With terrible writing like Army of the Dead, all his visual quirks just make the experience even more grating.
First and foremost, it's the terrible screenplay. The story itself is just so poor, filled with plot holes and conveniences that make me roll my eyes way too much. I don't expect Oscar worthy level of writing from a zombie heist film, but basic competence is the least I ask for. When your very first scene consists entirely of people doing the dumbest things possible, you know you're in for a wobbly ride.
It feels like the script has not been proof read and the very first draft has been used. This idea is further supported by the fact that the movie is at least 45 minutes too long, classic case of the writer not wanting to kill his darlings. Which is what happens when you let your director also write the movie.
Then there are the horrible characters that were all awful and desperately unlikeable. They are all incredibly one-dimensional, with the possible exception of Dave Bautista's character who is at least given some sort of backstory. The father-daughter relationship was supposed to be the backbone of the movie, but the daughter's actions were so stupid that I really couldn't care for a second about it.
Worse were the two 'evil' human characters that were so laughably one-dimensional that they might have well been twirling their mustache and laughing maniacally everytime they were on screen (which I feel they might have actually done at some point). They were just thrown in there to have them been mauled in the worst ways possible and make us cheer instead of being repelled by it, which should be the case when humans get shredded by flesheating zombies. It's exceptionally cheap writing which showcases an inability to write any sense of moral ambiguity into your movie.
Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this kind of movie, needing some sort of depth in my story instead of mindless cheap action and gore. And while I don't mind a bit of humor in my action movies, I think what Snyder wrote could barely constitute as such. Making a nerdy character scream like a little girl everytime he encounters a zombie is just not my idea of funny, sorry.
Ultimately, it all feels incredibly cheap. From the writing to the production to the cinematography it feels like a blown up student movie. The actors did their best, but the fact that the cast is entirely C-list does not do the movie any favours. It makes each character more forgettable than the last and makes me not care at at all about any of them.
Occasionally, Snyder does some interesting visual things, but man please let him stay as far away as possible from the writing table. Watchmen was a great movie, mostly because it stayed pretty close to the amazing source material. That's when Snyder's visual style actually enhances a movie. With terrible writing like Army of the Dead, all his visual quirks just make the experience even more grating.