Army of the Dead is better than Zack Snyder's Justice League, despite the fact that Justice League is arguably his most popular work to date. There are several reasons why Army of the Dead is an overall better movie than Snyder's Justice League, including the fact that its characters and story are inherently more developed and less stilted. After all, there are only so many ways that Batman and Superman can be regurgitated on screen, despite audiences always craving more.
The original theatrical version of Justice League was criticized for having weak character development and story, and there is only so much that Snyder's director's cut could have done to resolve this problem. Ultimately, the Snyder Cut largely addressed that weakness with extra screen time for its characters, which lamentably created a new problem of giving the movie an excruciatingly slow pace. Army of the Dead doesn't suffer from a pacing problem, as its characters and story receive the perfect amount of attention they need, despite the movie clocking in at more than two hours.
Snyder's lavish style suits Army of the Dead perfectly because it provides the more graphic and exaggerated visuals usually found in zombie movies as well as the comic relief that balances out the gore. And while his lush, artistic style does translate aesthetically well to the screen in Justice League, it ultimately takes away from the characters and story, and his attempts at adding comedic elements fall flat for most audiences, even those well-versed in DC Comics canon. Here's a closer look at how each aspect of Army of the Dead and Zack Snyder's Justice League compare.
In comparison with Zack Snyder's Justice League, the characters and story of Army of the Dead are clearly more unique, despite their derivative nature—which is almost impossible to avoid because of the zombie tropes that are virtually a requirement of the genre. The characters and story in Snyder's Justice League come from well-known and oft-repeated DC Comics source material. Army of the Dead is a more original and authentic work of art, and as a result, its characters and story are more compelling. This doesn't mean that the characters and story of Army of the Dead are completely unique in the history of zombie movies, but they are a refreshing addition to the genre, especially because they draw on a variety of influences including zombie movies like I Am Legend and ensemble heist movies like Ocean's Eleven.
Of course, this also doesn’t mean that Snyder's vision for the characters and story of Justice League are all that bad. They are unquestionably the result of his particular and personal vision for the franchise and have their own merits in comparison to other movies in the DCEU. However, because the stories and characters of Justice League do have such a long history of being depicted in media, they can't compete with the fresh stories and characters of Army of the Dead (despite its somewhat derivative nature).
Snyder's direction and visual style in Justice League are not as effective as they are in Army of the Dead. The way in which Snyder engages with his actors as a director and how he frames and focuses his scenes behind the lens as the cinematographer in Army of the Dead is far more suitable to the themes of zombie movies than to superhero movies. He often lingers on out-of-focus shots that enhance the chaos and confusion inherent to zombie movies, but which only serve to obscure the already tenuous storylines of superhero movies.
Snyder also tends to use darkness and high-contrast shading to express the dramatic contexts of his characters. This tendency is useful in both Justice League and Army of the Dead, because both movies deal with intense themes of good and evil. However, the ambiguity of the themes of light and darkness in Army of the Dead are served better with this technique than in Justice League. Snyder's version of the DC Comics staples of Superman, Batman, and company is somewhat grittier than what people are used to. This, along with the sepia tone of the Snyder Cut, creates a feeling of a forced melodrama in Justice League, whereas in Army of the Dead, the themes of light and dark feel inherently more natural in the setting of a zombie movie, as does the visual style he employs.
It goes without saying that Zack Snyder's Justice League, as an extended, non-theatrical cut, suffers from a lack of action in comparison with the shorter Army of the Dead. However, while this lack of action is undoubtedly a result of the movie's length, it is also a symptom of the subject matter. Justice League, as a story that treated its characters as demi-gods and built around Snyder's complex mythology, requires more exposition than that of Army of the Dead. This is mainly down to audiences being more familiar with the characters of Justice League, so to create a more original story, it required more exposition to differentiate itself from familiar beats. The heavy-handed character exposition featured in Zack Snyder's Justice League reduced the amount of action in the plot, which is also why the villain of Justice League, Darkseid, was given less screen time and character development. Conversely, even though Army of the Dead is a unique world with its own mythology, the zombie flick is a more straightforward action film due to the nature of its simpler story.
Considering the fact that Zack Snyder's resume is filled with pre-existing source material as far back as his feature film debut in his remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (written by James Gunn), it might seem that he is more suited to such projects. Additionally, his only other original movie, Sucker Punch, was a critical and box office failure. However, Snyder's overall style is more suited to Army of the Dead than Justice League because it combines the excessive, sometimes nihilistic themes and content that Snyder is known for with his own original story and cinematography. As a result, he is more personally connected to the project, and it is thus the perfect vehicle for his talents. In Army of the Dead, Snyder's creativity is allowed to shine, without the limitations of having to stay true to pre-existing, iconic characters and storylines that constrained him in Justice League.
In conclusion, Army of the Dead is better than Snyder's Justice League mainly because its various cinematic elements simply mesh better than they do in Justice League. Because of its fresher, simpler storyline, higher level of action, and the director's close personal connection to the movie, Army of the Dead is the superior work. However, despite the fact that Army of the Dead is better than Zack Snyder's Justice League, fans of the director are undoubtedly looking forward to his next project, be it in the DC universe, an Army of the Dead sequel, or another completely unique film.
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