Zack Snyder took to the interwebs to announce that his latest film, Army of the Dead, has finished filming. That means we are about a year away from the film streaming on Netflix. That also means we are about a year away from people claiming that Snyder is a hack and his movies are loud, overblown trash and his attempts at leading the DC Cinematic Universe are a dark stain on cinema.
It also means we are about a year away from me timidly expressing interest in Army of the Dead. I’ll admit it, I think Snyder’s next movie might be a lot of fun and I don’t care who knows it. Yes, Snyder’s recent work has been shoddy at times. Yes, his DC movies are best forgotten (except for Man of Steel, I’ll go to bat for that one) and, yes, his movies tend to be heavy on testosterone and noise and light on nuance and storytelling. But I still think Army of the Dead is cause for celebration. Why? For several reasons.
First of all, let’s look at the plot. Army is about a team of mercenaries who are sent into a deserted Las Vegas years after a zombie apocalypse has decimated society. That means that the film will be Snyder’s return to the genre that made him: zombie horror. Say what you want about his other films but it’s very hard to deny that his directorial debut, Dawn of the Dead, as a damn fantastic action-horror film. Credit is due to James Gunn and his cracker-jack script and characters but it’s rare to see a debut with as much promise as Dawn had. So the idea of Snyder once again taking on a zombie movie is enough to ensure a bought ticket (or, in this case, a Netflix subscription).
Then there is the fact that Snyder has a lot to prove after several years of missteps. There was a time when many saw Snyder as the next big thing in Hollywood, a name who could someday sit beside Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and others in the pantheons of action movie fame. But his promise was squandered on misguided pet projects (Sucker Punch) and the DC films. It’s as if Snyder’s career took a time-out right as it was really heating up. But all of that is behind Snyder now and he’s a man with a chip on his shoulder, a fire in his belly and a company that will spend whatever it takes to deliver his vision.
That leads us to my last point: this is a Netflix film. This is not Warner Bros or DC, this is not a studio that wants to be hands-on because of ulterior motives related to sprawling franchises. Netflix has been pretty good to its creators, giving them free reign and seemingly unlimited budgets. They want movies that’ll make a splash and Snyder can give them that if they let him play freely. Snyder has been very complimentary of the streamer, saying that there have been “no handcuffs on me at all with this one.” The fact that Snyder is making the sort of movie he wants with little to no restrictions is cause for celebration…
And, yes, some hesitation.
While I am more excited for Army of the Dead than I have been for any of Snyder’s films in ages, I am also a bit concerned. The script was co-written by Snyder and I have never been really blown away by his writing skills. As I mentioned before, his best film was penned by James Gunn. Snyder’s writing leans into his action-movie sensibilities a bit too much and ends up with muddled stories, two-dimensional characters and a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Now, Snyder isn’t the only writer on Army, he’s joined by Shay Hatten and Joby Harold. So there is hope that Snyder’s vision isn’t too mucked up by Snyder himself.
The bottom line is that Snyder isn’t the hack that some say he is. He bites off more than he can chew and has been in a shitty situation with the DC movies but he’s a talented filmmaker who understands what makes action and horror movies work. He’s been wandering the directorial wastelands for a few years now but that phase of his career is over and hopefully Army of the Dead is a strong return to form.