Zombieland

Zombieland
Genre: RomZomCom

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Release Date: October 2nd 2009







     It's not every day you come across a zombie flick with a real budget.  Or one with a director with an actual vision.  Maybe you lucked out, and you come across one with writers who are truly passionate about the genre.  Writers who can give it a real, developed story and write a good film, Zombie or not.  Maybe, just maybe, you came across the rare zombie flick with real and talented actors, who can bring integrity and sincerity to the project.  But what happens when you get all of these things in the same film?

     Zombieland.  This movie is the real deal folks.

     The film follows Columbus on his trek for survival across the United States of Zombieland.  Columbus is a coward, plain and simple, who has only survived due to his strict adherence to a list of carefully devised (and very humorous) rules.  These include "Cardio", "The Double-Tap", "Seatbelts", "Beware of Bathrooms" and MANY others.

     On his journey, he meets Tallahassee on the side of a wreck strewn highway.  Without saying a word, or even lowering their guns, the two make a silent pact.  They bond together for survival, a fact that the two are not always quite thrilled with.  The two soon meet and "befriend" (at least eventually) Little Rock and Wichita, sisters on their way to "Pacific Playland", a supposedly Zombie-Free California theme park.

     Zombieland has it all.  The script is well written and very funny.  The director not only has a good sense of the genre and how to use the horror to shock you, but he also manages to use it to make you laugh.
  
     Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland) does a great job as the cowardly Columbus, a man who's biggest dream is to brush a girl's hair behind her ear.  The beautiful Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker) plays the tough and very clever Wichita.  She and Eisenberg have a real chemistry on screen, and she does a good and convincing job of being the "tough chick" archetype.  Not only is she quite pleasant to look at, she can actually act too!  Abigail Breslin plays Little Rock.  Naive about some things ("Who's Ghandi?") yet also surprisingly wise about things such as running cons and killing zombies.  She almost always impresses when on screen, and Zombieland is no exception.

     The real highlight of the movie, though, was Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrelson.  A border-line psychotic with an unnatural obsession with finding one more Twinkie, Tallahassee also has a preternatural gift for killing zombies, one he makes thorough and frequent use of.  That's right, folks, white man can't jump, but they can sure as hell kick some zombie ass!

     Not only does the movie have a talented cast and a devoted production crew, the gore is fantastic!  Whether is is a woman crashing through the window of a minivan and skidding face first along the pavement, or a horde of zombies ripping into a fresh meal, the effects reach new heights of realism.  At least for the zombie genre, that is.  The gore is perfectly handled, not used to excessive levels and not so pervasive that you get sick of it.  There are parts that, I swear, you will want to (and actually might) stand up and cheer out loud.

     The humor, unexpected as it may be in a zombie film, is spot on.  Often tongue in cheek, or executed through visual gags, you will find yourself laughing at things you never would have imagined.

     I am trying to remember complaints I had so that I can write about that end of things.  I realize, however, that I didn't have any.  NONE!  Everything worked for me.  Even the fact that the zombies' origins are left unknown didn't bother me as it usually would.  The few survivors we see have no idea why it happened, so how could we?  Basically, this movie took what Shaun of the Dead began with the RomZomCom (Romantic Zombie Comedy) genre, and perfected it.  Need more proof?  How about this exchange from the movie's second act:

     Little Rock: "Do you have any regrets?"

     Bill Muray:  "Garfield, maybe..."

Concept: 5 out of 5
Execution: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 6 out of 5!  (This movie exceeds my normal classification)