‘Army of the Dead’ Is Extra Amusing for ‘Fear the Walking

(This article incorporates spoilers for Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” on Netflix, and for the episode of “Fear the Walking Dead” that aired April 11)

There are plenty of issues I anticipated from “Army of the Dead,” Zack Snyder’s new zombie flick that hit Netflix this week, however Garret Dillahunt’s flip as an absolute turd of a human being wasn’t certainly one of them.

This being a zombie film — and one a couple of ragtag workforce attempting to tug a heist — there may be in fact a bit of little bit of “the real monsters are people” occurring right here with two members of the heist crew: Theo Rossi’s safety guard, Burt Cummings (a reputation that feels a bit flippant for a personality who’s a rapist), and Dillahunt’s Martin. Martin is extraordinarily disagreeable, continually attempting to get the opposite workforce members killed as a result of he has his personal separate agenda for this journey into zombie-infested Las Vegas.

Dillahunt clearly had a good time with it, turning himself right into a sneering cartoon baddie who by no means does something that advantages the group as a result of he finally needs to be the one one who makes it out of there alive. When he lastly will get his comeuppance on the, er, paws of a zombie white tiger within the goriest human loss of life in all of “Army of the Dead,” it’s the form of second that will make a packed theater cheer.

It was a pleasant factor to see particularly as someone who watches “Fear the Walking Dead.” Dillahunt has been a collection common on the AMC collection for the previous three seasons, although his run not too long ago ended when his character was killed final month.

That character, John Dorie, is just about the precise reverse of Martin on “Army of the Dead.” He’s a basic Western archetype of a man — the honorable lawman who insists on doing issues the proper manner, as a result of doing issues the fallacious manner makes you an identical because the dangerous guys. In different phrases, an actual boy scout sort. A man who ended up useless as a result of he wouldn’t defend himself towards a younger teen.

You gotta assume that, on some stage at the least, Dillahunt took on this function in “Army of the Dead” as a result of it’s such a dramatic distinction to his half on “Fear the Walking Dead.” Not as a palate cleanser, since Snyder’s movie had its precept pictures again in 2019, nearly actually nicely earlier than Dillahunt’s exit from “FTWD” had been selected. Just a “it would be fun to do something completely different” form of factor.

And for these of us nonetheless consuming up all the brand new zombie media that’s on the market, Dillahunt’s extraordinarily obnoxious, mustache-twirling dangerous man is form of a thrill. It would have been enjoyable to look at him chew up each scene anyway — Dillahunt is a superb actor — however after three years of watching John Dorie the Boy Scout on TV, I couldn’t assist however take some further pleasure from totally hating this character in “Army of the Dead.”