In Zack Snyder’s version of the zombie apocalypse, the end of the world happens because of – not to be indelicate – road head.

Specifically, it’s one ill-timed car accident in the Nevada desert between a newlywed couple and a military caravan carrying a mysterious payload. After the ‘payload’ is revealed to be a shipping container full of the undead, they descend upon Sin City with a vengeance, nearly taking it over and kicking off Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, which premiered Friday on Netflix. (Netflix took over production from Warner Bros. in 2019.)

The military manages to wall off the city with the zombies inside, and plans to use a nuclear strike to turn the zombie-ridden city into a crater, but first, the surviving humans, still eking out a life somewhere on the outskirts of the barricades, need to be evacuated.

Enter the mysterious Bly Tanaka, (Hiroyuki Sanada, Mortal Kombat) who offers mercenary Scott Ward (Dave Bautista, Guardians of the Galaxy) a mission: break back into Vegas with a self-chosen team to sneak into the city and recover Bly’s million dollar fortune from the safe in his casino.

Ward accepts, and assembles his posse, which includes kick-ass Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguara, Goliath) safe-cracker Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer, You Are Wanted,) chopper pilot Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro, Together Together,) and hothead Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick, Bronzeville.) Notaro shot all her scenes on green screen to be added into the movie in post-production; actor Chris D’Elia originally filmed the role but was scrubbed out of the movie after accusations of him pursuing underage girls sexually came to light.

Bly’s right-hand Martin (Garret Dillahunt, Fear the Walking Dead) and Ward’s estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell, Sweetbitter) also join the team, who must be in and out of Vegas before the nuclear strike hits.

Getting into Vegas is easy enough, of course; it’s getting the job done and back out again that’s the challenge. Facing everything from the zombified white tiger from Siegfried and Roy’s act to super-intelligent zombie queen who is a leader of the city’s undead hierarchy.

The rules for this apocalypse are a little different: zombies aren’t just mindless and slow-moving killing machines; some are smart enough to strategize and save the living they capture for future use, and they have an organizational structure not unlike the British royal family.

In zombie movies and heist movies alike, how much the viewer likes and cares about the team is crucial; no one is supposed to root for the cannibals or capitalists. Bautista is a tough guy who’s got a soft spot for his daughter, Notaro (an infinite improvement on what D’Elia would have brought to the role) is a foul-mouthed delight, Dieter is endearingly goofy, and Vanderohe introduces a philosophical note to the proceedings. At least some of the characters won’t make it out alive; in a well-made movie you will care when they don’t.

Murphy’s Law applies even in (or especially in) capers that occur in the apocalypse: the helicopter that’s supposed to evacuate everyone is not functional; Ward’s daughter does rogue to find a missing friend, Tanaka’s assistant betrays the mission in a way that jump-starts a zombie horde attack, and the president of the U.S. (this was clearly shot when Trump was in charge) decides to move up the nuclear strike by a day for funsies. The heist seems completely doomed before we hit the climax.

Besides a few tweaks to accepted zombie-movie law, Army of the Dead isn’t particularly ground-breaking or unpredictable, either as a heist flick or as a zombie-killing adventure. Zack Snyder, whose imprint on the DC Universe films he directed is so indelible (for good or ill) that his fans were able to force Warner Bros. to release an expensive, extended re-shot version of Justice League, didn’t make a movie that was unmistakably his.

Army of the Dead isn’t bad; the pace is brisk and its nearly 2 1/2 hour run-time doesn’t drag on as endlessly as the Justice League Snyder cut, and the movie’s neon palette is perfect for a movie set in (what’s left of) Las Vegas. Obviously a lot of money was spent on effects and the ruins of the Strip set, and though there are no standout performances aside from Notaro’s, there are definitely some characters you want to see make it out of this thing alive.

Ultimately, though, Army of the Dead is a passably good Netflix movie not a great cinematic experience. If you did like it, you’ll be happy to learn that Netflix greenlit two prequels to the film; an anime series and Army of Thieves, a prequel film directed by Schweighöfer that will drop on Netflix later this year.