Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsPlease, lose the stereotypes
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2019
First, I want to get what bothers me out of the way. The movie is set beneath a US Army base in Germany, and I was shocked at the contempt shown by the soldiers toward the local civilians. I was stationed with the Navy in Australia and in Italy, and I NEVER would have talked that way to the host nationals. Nor did anyone else I knew.
For a movie that's otherwise clever and fun--note I still gave it four stars--I'm disappointed that the filmmakers didn't know better than to dredge up the old gung-ho soldier stereotype and the arrogant-American stereotype, robo-soldiers with itchy trigger fingers who don't care a speck for anyone's life. It's as B.S. as every other stereotype.
Now the positives. The main character is a bit of a cad himself, but grows in the process of exploring the underground concrete labyrinth and fighting off zombies. There's all the shoot-em-up action you'd expect, some gore but not too much, and a bonding with an American he meets along the way. You want Nazi zombies still in their uniforms? Nazi UFO's, and an alien thrown in for good measure? This movie's got'em. Yes, "Dead Snow" has Nazis too, but this one's got Hitler himself! And he gets a satisfying amount of action in the showdown, when the main character finds himself called to finish the task started by the Red Army in 1945.