WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Army of the Dead, now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead introduces a cast of characters whose interests are wildly diverse from one another. Where one character is an expert safecracker, another is an ex-military soldier turned mechanic. However, their desire to find $200 million trapped in a safe below a zombie-infested Las Vegas unites them and their universal skill of zombie killing. One character in particular stands out as one of the best shots in the film, drawing comparisons to the DC comics character, Deadshot.
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Micky Guzman (Raul Castillo) finds himself on a list of associates being scouted by Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) and Gretta (Ana de la Reguera) for his impeccable aim and experience in killing the undead. His feats include multiple headshots in a row along with simultaneous headshots using only one bullet. Like Deadshot, it didn’t take him long to say yes to the offer once he found out that money was involved.
As only a handful of Ward’s crew had ventured to the quarantined Las Vegas, a reasonable amount of tension could be felt before they entered. One of Guzman’s crew even quit immediately after realizing the stakes. However, while Guzman had never been near the center of the city himself, he never let his fear take over. His calmness paralleled Will Smith’s Deadshot, who maintained a cool head while entering Mission City in Suicide Squad. That same coolness consistently benefitted Guzman while facing multiple hordes and hard choices while in the city.
While in Vegas, Guzman faced the difficult choice of sacrificing one of his friends to save the group. When his associate, Chambers (Samantha Win), was overrun by zombies, Guzman fired a shot directly into her gas canister, blowing it up. The skill in his shot was evident as he hit his target without using the sights, missing Chambers and the other zombies in the process. The scene showcased his skills and how he could compartmentalize his emotions long enough to make the best choice for the group.
Like how Deadshot took on multiple enemies on his own without feeling any pressure, Guzman continued to show how he handled similar situations towards the film’s climax. As he and a few others ran through the casino, a horde of Alpha zombies caught their scent and immediately began their attack. While running towards the elevator to escape, Guzman took out multiple zombies with headshots. The impressive part of these kills was that he fired his weapon only from the hip at a considerable distance. Due to the unpredictability of firing a weapon without using the sights and the stress of being under attack, his hip fire headshots felt like a superhuman feat compared to his teammates.
Before Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder had big plans for Deadshot in his sequel to Justice League. While those plans didn’t come to fruition, Micky Guzman serves as a great substitute for the gunplay Snyder could have brought to the character. He may not be the only one in the film capable of shooting zombies in the head, but his ability to hit his targets from any angle makes him a standout among Ward’s crew and a great spiritual successor to Zack Snyder’s version of Deadshot.
Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Raul Castillo, Tig Notaro, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer and Ana de la Reguera. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
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