Review
"Have you heard about Pacific Playland? There are no zombies there." - Little Rock
Columbus, named later in the movie, is a social misfit who spends all day and night in his room suffering from various phobias. The only time he gets a hot babe into his dungeon and dragons existence doesn't turn out that well as she attempts to eat him. Welcome to the United States of Zombieland where patient zero was infected due to a spoilt hamburger, and the resulting plague has pretty much knocked out the entire population.
Our Hero, who survives due to a series of rules he has devised, is heading home to Columbus to see if his family have managed to avoid being consumed. On the way he runs across Tallahassee, who has his own personal tragedy to deal with, but who has discovered his one great asset, he's like the world's best ever zombie killer. The Boys hook up for an epic journey across the ravaged North American landscape. In some unnamed town, Tallahassee is taking a slight detour in his never ending quest for a twinkie, the boys run across Wichita and Little Rock, two sisters who have their own survival strategy. Unfortunately for the Lads the gals' strategy involves stealing their ride and weapons and heading out to an amusement park. Tallahassee isn't going to take this lying down and the boys are soon in pursuit. This year's favourite rom-com ensues.
Okay let's get the fan boy geekness out of the way first up so we can actually talk about the freaking movie without interruptions. Zombieland has fast moving zombies rather than Romero's lumbering ones. Simon Pegg has had a few things to say about this recent change in undead behavior, liked the flu comparison Si, and like Mr Pegg I prefer my zombies to be slow moving and in bulk, though I'm not zealous about that preference. If fast moving zombies work for the movie that they are used in, then bring it on, let's get the juices flowing and enjoy the film. The other aspect to the "Z" equation here that is likely to get up some peoples noses is that the zombies depicted in Zombieland aren't actually dead, they're just majorly pissed off they got a taste for human flesh due to a dodgy Big Mac and that mad cow disease thing. Romero decided zombies, or as he originally called them "ghouls", should be the resurrected dead, and there's a whole bunch of people taking the Director at his word without delving into the history of the zombie movie and the actual origins. Zombie movies have a history stretching well back before Night of the Living Dead, ergo the so called "purists" in the zombie debate really are referencing one stream of zombie lore and disregarding the pedigree that films like White Zombie gave us. Where exactly is it cannon that zombies should be the "living dead"? Certainly not in the Haitian practices that are the bases for the modern zombie flick. Suck it up kids, Zombieland has fast moving zombies, learn to live with it or give the movie a miss. Actually if we wanted to be pedantic, and clearly I'm going anally retentive here, "undead" as a term was original applied to Vampires and has been bastardised by Hollywood. Am I digressing? Probably, let's move this wagon train along here.
The first block of Zombieland remains the most interesting. We are introduced to the situation, including the Presidential motorcade having succumbed to an attack, our main narrator Columbus, and the thriving in a harsh environment Tallahassee. The Audience will be immediately reminded of the Brit zom-com outing Shaun of the Dead with the male leads; Columbus fills the shoes of Simon Pegg's Shaun, a wastrel who needs something dramatic to bring out the best in him, while Tallahassee is Nick Frost's Ed, who has simply found his niche in life and is actually enjoying the current situation. The movie kicks off with a dramatization of Columbus' ever growing list of pointers of how to survive the zombie apocalypse, and I was at least sniggering in places as Director Ruben Fleischer mixes in some slap stick comedy with how to be the best you can be in the land of the dead. Needless to say Fleischer gets the gore in early to ensure we know we are at a zombie jamboree.
It's during the middle block of the movie that the pacing lags somewhat and notably there's a general lack of the undead in Zombieland. A cameo by Bill Murray, playing himself, feels tacked on and forced, though North American viewers may find that funnier than I did. Director Fleischer spasmodically remembers to include Columbus' rules as occasion requires, but seems ill at ease with the device. It's like he has noticed it in another movie, thought it would be cool to use, but really doesn't know how to make it work for his movie.
During the final block Fleischer dials into more standard zombie fare, ups the carnage factor, but retains his ready use of humour; "look at this clown". The underlying theme is pulled together and tied off, and the characters disappear into the sunset, or until the inevitably sequel at least. It's all slightly too slick and cookie cutter to be deemed a classic, but is surprisingly satisfying as the end credits roll.
Throughout Zombieland's running time there are enough one liners and sight gags to keep you occupied, even when the blood soaked action isn't going down. The audience I viewed the movie with laughed in all the right places and seemed happy enough with time spent in country. There weren't the normal moans you hear when the humour falls flat on its arse, and everyone kept the noise down when it came to some on screen zombie killing action. Director Fleischer was adequate behind the camera without doing anything interesting, which was about what everyone in the theater was after.
Woody Harrelson (Tallahassee), Jesse Eisenberg (Columbus), Emma Stone (Wichita), and Abigail Breslin (Little Rock) all worked well off each other and had some excellent screen chemistry going down. Nice to see Harrelson get some more solid roles, completely underrated actor in my worthless opinion. In case you are wondering about the character names, Tallahassee doesn't want to get too friendly and committed to anyone.
Didn't note the score, guess that meant I was heavily glued to the visuals going down, but the soundtrack surely rocked with Blue Oyster Cult and Metallica being standouts in this department.
Zombieland was the second movie I caught Saturday after being dazed and confused by Paranormal Activity. Must say after the first movie I was after something lighter with a few laughs being a bonus. Zombieland delivered on requirements, though it did drag through the middle somewhat. I got laughs, I got zombies, and I got a well behaved cinema audience that didn't feel the need to text someone during the film. I was happy enough with my feeding time here and it rounded out a pretty decent Saturday afternoon double feature.
Strangely, for a movie that is basically a comedy featuring zombies, Zombieland skews towards an older demography, the underlying themes of family etc is not geared towards teens, so I'm going to recommend the movie to most readers. If you like your zombie outing with a tad of humour and a "let's not take it seriously" approach then this is the movie for you. Grab a ticket and take a bite out of some quality cinema time.
Very solid Rom-Com with strong performances.