ARMY OF THE DEAD
Cert 18 ★★★★ On Netflix now
The irony. It’s reopening weekend for the UK’s beleaguered multiplexes and the most cinematic new release is playing exclusively on Netflix.
In an amusing prologue (shockingly so for downbeat Justice League director Zack Snyder), two soldiers wonder what top-secret cargo they are transporting across the Nevada desert.
When amorous newlyweds trigger an accident, a beefy zombie vaults out of a metal crate, chomping on the soldiers’ necks before spying neon lights on the horizon.
In a wonderful credit sequence (Snyder’s best since Watchmen), ironically cut to Viva Las Vegas, Elvis impersonators and showgirls are quickly dispatched and reanimated as zombies, while mercenaries lead a brief fightback before the military seal off the city.
Some months later, Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), one of the tough guy heroes of the zombie war, is flipping burgers when he gets an offer he can’t refuse.
A Japanese casino magnate (Hiroyuki Sanada) wants him to assemble a team to liberate $200million from a vault under the Strip. As he’s got a whole two days before the US government is due to drop a nuke on the city, and since Mr Tanaka clearly doesn’t have a secret agenda, nothing could possibly go wrong.
If you saw last year’s Peninsula, the plot may sound rather familiar, but this undead heist movie has bags of personality. There are stylish set pieces, colourful characters and some original flourishes such as soulful “alpha” zombies and a rotting tiger reanimated from the Siegfried & Roy show.
It’s a great popcorn movie although, since you’re watching this at home, you’ll have to clean up your own crumbs.