Everybody wants some. I want some too - Zombieland is hilarious!
Written: Oct 19 '09 (Updated Oct 31 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: very entertaining, mixes comedy & gore well
Cons: film's geography doesn't make sense, thin plot, no point other than zombie killing
The Bottom Line: A thin plot but very amusing zombie-killing spree with interesting characters.
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| criteeker's Full Review: Zombieland |
What would you do if the entire planet was inhabited by flesh-eating zombies? Could you survive? I went into the theatre with the expectation to be completely grossed out. I completely expected the all the funny parts of the Zombieland commercials or teasers (I had seen many times) would be the only funny parts in the film. Man, was I wrong.
Not since "Shaun of the Dead" has killing zombies been more entertaining. Shaun had some very funny scenes, but Zombieland was entertaining from beginning to end. In fact, I think we have a new film genre: the Zomedy. My wife and I were talking about the film afterward and we couldn't think of another actor better-suited to play Woody's role. Harrelson was pitch perfect in his portrayal of the cool zombie hunter. His accent, his cavalier attitude and his cool demeanor in the face of certain demise was quite fun to watch. Imagine Woody going on a zombie-killing spree all set to classic Van Halen, "Everybody wants some...I want some too." Awesome! Can a brother just get a Twinkie? (you'd laugh if you saw the film already)
Basically, Zombieland centers around four characters. First and foremost, our two would-be heroes "Columbus" and "Tallahassee." Why the unusual names? Tallahassee (Harrelson) is quite the loner and doesn't like knowing people's real names for fear of getting too close when (or if) they get eaten by zombies. So the names are the cities where people are from. The other would-be hero is the always paranoid and quite reclusive Columbus, played by Jessie Eisenberg ("Adventureland" and "Solitary Man"). The story of Zombieland is told from Columbus' standpoint with narration that is quite amusing. He shares his "list" of rules for survival - and they're pretty good rules to live by and laugh at. Clever visuals and writing for sure.
Along their odyssey, the boys encounter (and get duped by) a duo of con artist sisters hell-bent on survival too. The sisters are played by "Witchita" Emma Stone ("Superbad" and "The House Bunny") and "Little Rock" Abigail Breslin ("My Sister's Keeper" and "Little Miss Sunshine"). The male-female dynamic is quite fun here but I think the "steal you car and run" thing got a bit old though. I mean, there were thousands of abandoned cars littered across the highways and streets, so the sisters could have taken any vehicle they wished - right?
Another problem I had with the film was the story's geography. If the guys meet in Texas and "Tallahassee" is going to Florida while "Columbus" is going to Ohio, they're going in opposite directions but in the movie they (both) agree that they're going East. Well, they're South East versus North East. No one had a map on them? Tallahassee even tells Columbus that he will take him to Texarcana which is East. But when they meet the sisters, the girls want to go to California because they went there as kids? That's not really a mission objective when the entire planet is crawling with flesh-eating zombies. There's no sense of urgency at all. That should have been ironed out in pre-production. Part of me was hoping (since they wind up traveling West) that the foursome would at least trek though Ohio to look for Columbus' parents (as he mentions a couple times). There could have been some funny parts between Columbus and his zombie parents.
Even though their mission is never really clear, the unlikely foursome travels West and killing zombies along the way is never less than amusing. The gore is held to a minimum - meaning that the gore factor never really grossed me out more than I expected. I would label this film more of an action-comedy rather than a horror film.
There's a scene in an amusement park's haunted house, where Columbus is chased by zombies that had me a little anxious and a scene versus a huge zombie clown that made Columbus quite anxious, but the film is quite light-hearted for a zombie flick. There are no nudity or sex scenes so parents can breathe a sigh of relief there.
A note about the cinematography: I really enjoyed the use of slow motion emphasis in some of the early sequences and camera angles and camera movement were fun in spots. I'm not sure if this was the decision of a fairly new director (Ruben Fleischer) or the director of photography Michael Bonvillain ("Cloverfield" and "From Dusk 'til Dawn 3").
There's even an encounter in a "famous" Hollywood actor's mansion. The "B.M." scenes were a bit slow although Woody's "Caddyshack" routine was funny to me - being a huge fan of that film.
Go see Zombieland. It's more fun than gross and more light-hearted than you'd expect. It runs about 87 minutes.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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