Netflix’s Army of the Dead is one of its biggest movies to date – and ahead of its release on May 21, social media reactions to Zack Snyder’s first Netflix flick have started filtering out. The outlook is cheery for the Vegas-set zombie heist movie, which stars Dave Bautista alongside an ensemble cast.
It’s been called everything from “bold, humorous and heartbreaking” to “a downright stunning display of zombie mayhem and carnage”. Below, we’ve captured a few reactions to the film to give you an idea of what to expect – at least until Netflix releases the review embargo closer to release.
Let’s start with TechRadar’s own Tom Power, who was very positive on Snyder’s first zombie movie since his debut Dawn of the Dead feature back in 2004.
#ArmyOfTheDead is Zack Snyder’s finest work to date. It’s bold, humorous, heartbreaking, and delivers on what a zombie movie should be whilst adding new intriguing genre elements. It’s the perfectly colorful, bright follow-up to his superhero flicks & one Snyder fans will loveMay 10, 2021
Another critic calls the film a “blast” and praises its creativity – it seems like zombies are just a good fit for Snyder’s sensibilities as a filmmaker.
I watched #ArmyOfTheDead!The movie is a BLAST. It takes itself seriously and commits to that, so after a few minutes, I was totally in. It’s a big-budget, creative, super fun, thrilling, violent zombie film. That’s what you want, that’s what you get.Great job @ZackSnyder. pic.twitter.com/4VBxgSCA2PMay 10, 2021
Given that the film is about a ragtag squad of specialists trying to pull off the ultimate score, its superficial similarities to Suicide Squad have been noted by critics.
I saw #ArmyoftheDead and I’m all-in on this world. Pretty sure Zack Snyder just beat WB to the punch and made his own Suicide Squad movie, but with zombies. How about that. pic.twitter.com/xUb0lnylTsMay 10, 2021
Plenty of praise has been thrown at the movie’s ensemble cast, which includes Omari Hardwick, Ella Purnell, Matthias Schweighöfer and Theo Rossi, among others.
#ArmyOfTheDead was VERY much my kind of thing. As hoped, the setting + Zack Snyder’s eye = a downright stunning display of zombie mayhem and carnage. Fell mighty hard for the whole ensemble, but I might need a 2.5 hour movie about just these two … pic.twitter.com/j6daBtuCOLMay 10, 2021
Most of the early reactions seem universally positive, but let’s balance out all that praise with a little bit of criticism. One critic points out that you’ll “feel the runtime” of the 2.5 hour film – which seems long for a movie of this ilk. Another reviewer points out that Army of the Dead feels pretty familiar:
I found myself wanting more from #ArmyOfTheDead overall. It’s well cast and often funny. But despite blending the heist/zombie genres, there’s not much newness added to either. One or two fresh setpieces amid familiar blood n gore, but outside of that, you’ve seen it more or less pic.twitter.com/u4Bd0Ra5ApMay 10, 2021
Find out for yourself on May 21, 2021.
Snyder takes on zombies again
Dawn of the Dead remains one of Snyder’s most enduringly acclaimed movies – while the DC universe of films has taken up the majority of the director’s time over the past decade, it’s nice to see him return to a genre where he can have more fun.
For Netflix, too, it gets something that looks and feels more like a blockbuster, an area that it’s pushing into more and more over the next few years. Acquiring Knives Out 2, for example, or producing spy movie The Gray Man with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, shows that it’s serious about standing up to its blockbuster-touting competitors.
After all, this year, the biggest movies in streaming have been landing on HBO Max – Godzilla vs Kong, for example, or Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
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