Movie Review: Army of the Dead (R – 148 minutes)

 

I wanted to like this, I really did.  But I have now concluded that I have conducted enough experiments to state that in general, I do not care for Zack Snyder films.

This particular Zack Snyder movie is one that is meant to launch a new Zack Snyder universe of Zack Snyder zombie action. It begins by showing us a couple of army dudes transporting a ‘thing’ from a ‘base’ that is possibly alien.  A recently married-in-Vegas couple crashes into the convoy, releasing the ‘thing’.  We then get a couple of interesting sequences - one campy over-the-top montage of Vegas zombies as the outbreak sweeps through the city with all the tropes you expect: Elvis zombies, Stripper Zombies, party zombies, even hot tub zombies that are all played over a classically Vegas song.  This would lead you to believe that the movie will be a fun campy ride of a heist in a zombie infested Vegas.  However, you also get shots of what will be our main characters as a team fighting their way through the outbreak to escape the city, intercut with very somber shots of them holding pictures of their loved ones. This would lead you to believe that the movie will be a very dramatic character study of what happens to people when they lose loved ones in this outbreak. 

This type of back and forth with the tone continues throughout the movie.  Vegas is eventually sealed off so that the zombies do not spread to other cities. A fancy-pants business man shows up to request that Scott Ward put together a team and go into Vegas through the zombies to get his millions in cash that is in the safe of his casino. Ward eventually agrees and assembles his team of standard heist-movie-types: the tough guy, the lunatic(s), the safe-cracker, the navigator, the pilot, the obvious traitor, his old partner, etc.  But as a bonus, it also includes his estranged daughter who seems to be in a separate movie where she is volunteering at the refugee camp just outside the Vegas walls and trying to help people get flights/transportation out of the city, but that requires payment, and many of the people do not have money, so they are tempted to sneak into the city to get money, and the guards/staff are often terrible and taking advantage of them. Ward takes his team in, and as you can expect – things go awry.

Snyder directs it with all the love he shows to his work. This means some fantastically beautiful shots, some fascinating slow motion here and there (maybe too much), some fun action sequences, all shot with some new camera technology.  There is no denying his skillset, I just do not enjoy his finished products. He includes interesting characters, but the rapidly shifting tone felt jarring to me.  There are so many ideas introduced that have no payoff or are not revisited. I know the plan is for more movies prequels, sequels, and spin-offs, but I feel like this would have benefitted from more focus on it and less on possible future endeavors.  I could not find a character to root for because they were all a little grating – some more than others.

Dave Bautista does his darndest to center the movie with an interesting leading man. He is great and certainly watchable – he is certainly in the drama version of the movie, focused more on the strained father/daughter relationships than the loony zombie action. He chose this over the part James Gunn had written for him in the upcoming Suicide Squad (with Gunn’s blessing). Ella Purnell plays his daughter and I enjoyed them together because they were on the same page even though that was not the version I thought I had signed up for.  

Omari Hardwick plays Vanderohe and shifts back and forth between the horror-comedy and drama aspects. He carries a large buzz saw that is meant for slicing zombies, but he also is very philosophical and brings up one of the most interesting theories in the movie that is then not addressed again. He has many scenes with Matthias Schweighofer as Dieter, who is doing such a strong Flula Borg impression that I found myself wondering why Flula was not in the movie.

Ana de la Reguera plays Maria who is Ward’s old running partner and used to working with him. She and Vanderohe worked with him previously and help ground him.  Tig Notaro plays Marianne Peters, the pilot, and yes, she was blue-screened into the movie to replace Chris D’Elia. They did a great job, and for the most part, it feels like she was there the whole time being snarky and sarcastic – which is what you want from Tig Notaro. The team is rounded out by Raul Castillo and Samantha Win who play what seem to be influences who kill zombies for social media content.

Theo Rossi plays one of the terrible guys from the refugee camp and Nora Arnezeder plays Lilly – a ‘coyote’, who works getting people in and out of Vegas.  Well, mostly in. She is not great at the out part. Garret Dillahunt shows up to play the incredibly obvious traitor, Martin, who works for the guy who hires the team, Tanaka, played by Hiroyuki Sanada.

If this movie had been a simple straightforward heist-in-zombie-Vegas movie, I think I would have enjoyed it more. As it is, I feel that it tried way too hard to include way too many things and set up way too many spin-off or sequel options (slight spoilers here): organized zombies, zombie tigers, dehydrated zombies that come back when it rains, zombie kings and queens, robot zombies, zombie breeding, zombie communication, secret experiments, aliens, etc.  It is also way too long.  There is no reason for a movie like this to be two and a half hours long.  If you enjoy Snyder’s style, this will definitely make you happy. 

2 out of 10  

Movie Review: A Quiet Place Part II (PG13 – 97 minutes)

 

I had never seen the original A Quiet Place from two years ago, so I rented it on Amazon Prime prior to heading to the theater to see A Quiet Place Part II.  It was exceptional, certainly scary, but a family drama at its heart. 

I think it pays to watch the first one almost immediately before seeing the second one as the story picks up right after the events of the prior movie.  First, there is essentially a cold open replaying “Day 1” as like part 1, the movie gives you titles cards to let you know which day of the situation you are in.  The flashback to the beginning shows the Abbott family at a baseball game as father Lee goes to pick up oranges and water for the post-game treats.  The sequence has several purposes: it shows how close-knit the town is – everyone seems to know everyone else; it introduces us to Emmett, another local father with a kid on the team; it shows how Regan is teaching everyone around a bit of signing; provides a quick shot of the space shuttle toy on the shelf of the store the Abbotts will later visit for supplies; and most importantly, shows the initial appearance of the creatures as an object seems to be landing near the town from space.  

After that sequence, the movie picks up immediately after the events of the previous film, Evelyn and her three remaining children, Regan, Marcus, and the baby she just had, are in the basement having discovered that Regan’s hearing aid provides a distressing feedback signal to the creatures that causes them to pop open their face shields long enough for you to get in a killing blow.  Having killed one, but also set the barn on fire and flooded the basement (thank goodness, those stairs were not safe), they set out to find help.  Collecting the map that Lee had been using to mark the other bonfires he saw at night, they head toward one.  Marcus accidentally steps in a bear trap, screams in pain, and Regan and Evelyn use the hearing-aid-feedback trick to kill an approaching creature. Of course, the gunshot brings more, but Emmett rescues them and brings them into his shelter.

He reveals that he has lost everyone and has been alone since his wife got sick and died.  Catching a broadcast on the radio of “Beyond the Sea”, Regan realizes she can head to the island where the station is broadcasting from and send out the feedback to more people.  Being a teenage girl, she sets out on her own, and Evelyn begs Emmett to go after her.  Together, they struggle to get to the island while Evelyn and Marcus struggle to recover from his injury and keep a newborn quiet.

What is most impressive about these movies is that the story is so simple but the movies are so compelling.  Krasinski has been very open that he treats them as family dramas first, and the horror element is nearly an afterthought. Because of that focus, it is incredibly easy to get sucked into the story and the characters.

Emily Blunt is fantastic again as Evelyn, having perfected the patented Gillian Anderson wide-eyed panic-fear stare.   Since Krasinski (spoiler alert) sacrificed himself in the first movie to save the kids, he only appears in the flashback sequence in this one, which does deprive the movie of their incredible chemistry, but Blunt carries all her scenes on her own. 

While watching the two parts back to back is great for story, it is a little weird to see the two kids who clearly are two years bigger in this one.  As with part one, the true star of this movie is Millicent Simmonds as Regan, with Noah Jupe as a strong second as Marcus.  They each overcome various obstacles, emotional and physical, to take action to try to save not just their family but everyone around them.

Cillian Murphy plays Emmett, and while always a bit creepy, here he is truly haunted.  He at first wants to kick out Evelyn and the kids, having basically given up. Eventually Regan convinces him to think about someone else and help her out.  Things get a bit dicey when they run into Scoot McNairy and a group of, I guess you could call them boat folks?  Eventually he helps her reach Djimon Hounsou who has been broadcasting the signal from the island.

Overall, the movie is nearly as good as the first, certainly scary, but more thriller than pure horror.  There is not a ton of gore, but plenty of jumpscares.  The core of the film is the family and their relationship.  I will say I took advantage of the website DoesTheDogDie.com prior to seeing it, just to ensure I was prepared for whatever might be included. I will say, I have some additional questions – these movies never really address what exactly these creatures are all about, why they are here, or what their purpose is.  In the first movie, you only spend time with the family, so that is not a surprise. Here, because it begins with the flashback to day 1, I thought perhaps they might dig a little deeper into it. You find out they are aliens, but aside from that, no real knowledge. They do not seem to eat anything they kill, so I have to assume they are just murder machines that hate noise?  The planet they came from must have been crazy loud and these guys are just refugees looking for some peace and quiet at any cost.

8 of 10 – Bonus points for the tight run time. I definitely recommend watching them back to back if you have the option.

Movie Review: Those Who Wish Me Dead (R - 110 minutes)

It is great to be fully vaxxed and back at the movie theater, but it is even better to be pleasantly surprised by a movie I had written off before getting there.

Those Who Wish Me Dead is a very clunky title, but since it is based on a book, we will blame the book for that – after all, Firestorm was taken.  Here, Hannah is a smokejumper firefighter who has been relegated to spending the summer in fire country in a very lonely tower watching for lightning storms and fires in the distance.  She is suffering some major PTSD after running point on a forest fire the previous year and being unable to save three kids.  While she tries to recover, her ex, who also happens to be a local cop, is trying to keep wild fire fighters and locals in line and cuddling up with his very pregnant but also a survivalist wife. Unbeknownst to any of them, his brother and son are currently on the run from some bad folks, because he is an accountant working with the DA’s office in Florida, and responsible for the evidence to put away a big time criminal. The accountant grabs his son and takes off on the run to his brother and sister in law.

Big time villain Tyler Perry (did the character have a name? It doesn’t matter – it’s Tyler Perry) sends some devious but exceptionally capable hitmen after the accountant who swiftly figure out where he is going.  They beat him out there but miss the kid, who has the evidence, or at least that is what we are to assume, since his father gave him a note and told him only to give it to someone he can trust.  To distract everyone, the hitmen set a forest fire and the movie becomes a chase between Hannah, the kid, the cop, his wife the survivalist, the hitmen, and the fire.

The fires that sweep across the mountains of the southwest every year are getting more and more frequent, terrifying, and deadly.  This movie uses that fear as a backdrop for an interesting surface-level story.  We never really find out what the bad guy did, what the accountant did, or even what information he gives to the kid.  While that seems like it could be missing, it is not critical to the story, which is more about the action of the chase and Hannah’s redemption as a character. Directed by Taylor Sheridan, it certainly has a few weak moments, but I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging it was.

Angelina Jolie is just the right balance of crazy and grief as Hannah. The trauma of being unable to save three kids when your entire job is saving people is fairly well depicted as she tries to pull herself together, mostly unsuccessfully.  Since she has been mostly directing the last couple of years, it was fun to see her in this mostly throwaway action flick before the Eternals later this year.

Jon Bernthal (who will always be Shane even though he is the best Punisher we have had) is great as Ethan, the cop who is noticeably concerned about his ex and her inability to process while still focusing on his wife and their coming baby plus the worry of his brother on the run and coming to see him.  Medina Senghore plays his wife, Allison, and she got some of the best action sequences in the movie – although I am a little skeptical that a woman 7 months pregnant would ride a horse into a forest fire. But, as is mentioned multiple times, she is a survivalist who runs a survivalist camp.

Finn Little plays Connor, the kid, and he is quite good – very believable, with a simple and straightforward performance.  I can not help but wonder what was on the paper he managed to eventually get to the press, but I am also willing to accept that is not key to this story.

The two hitmen are played by Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult.  Gillen’s American accent is improving and I appreciated how he seemed tired and frustrated through most of the movie but determined to get the job done.  He also seems terrified of his boss, Tyler Perry – but again, we do not get to learn why or what exactly they do.  

I spent most of the movie trying to figure out if Nicholas Hoult was really Nicholas Hoult because this was not a role I expected to see him in, but again, certainly threatening, capable, and chilling as a hitman who for a moment or two seems to have some qualms about their methods in chasing Jake Weber’s accountant, but in the end is going to carry out Tyler Perry’s commands.  What is Tyler Perry up to? 

Overall, the movie was a surprise for me, and with a tight runtime of just under two hours (most movies should be under two hours) it is a fun way to pass an afternoon in the theater – or at home, since it is also streaming on HBOMax. 

6 out of 10 – Would knowing more about what type of evil Tyler Perry is up to gotten more points? We will never know!