I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love with a movie quicker than I have with Zombieland. From the opening prologue to the fantastic opening credits (set to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”), Zombieland is a thrilling blend of action, comedy, and horror that fully takes advantage of pop culture’s current love affair with zombies.
From Adventureland to Zombieland, Jesse Eisenberg does his standard nerdy, Michael Cera-lite act as Columbus who survived the zombie apocalypse because he was a shut-in who avoided human contact. He has developed a set of rules that have helped him avoid becoming zombie food, rules that include good cardio conditioning and always remembering to check the back seat. He meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gung-ho cowboy who has turned zombie killing into an art form. While Columbus wants to head home to check on his family, Tallahassee is on an eternal hunt for the last box of Twinkies. Along the way, the two of them run into a pair of con artist sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), on their way to California. Oh, nobody gives out their real names because it makes it easier to put a bullet in their head when they become zombiefied.
The highlight of Zombieland is a trip to Hollywood where the gang run into a certain celebrity in one of the funniest cameos in recent memory.
Does Zombieland add any new elements to the zombie genre that we haven’t seen before? No, not really, though it does play around with the genre much like Scream did with the slasher flick. Zombieland isn’t about zombies as a metaphor for government corruption, consumerism or sexual diseases, it’s just a fun popcorn film. This is the kind of movie where you can sit back and just be entertained. Woody Harrellson is absolutely perfect as the shit-kicking cowboy and Abigail Breslin definitely puts Little Miss Sunshine to rest. My only quibble with Zombieland would be its brief 88 minute length. Usually I wish that the movie had ten more minutes to devote to fleshing out the characters or beefing up the plot, instead I wish Zombieland had ten more minutes of pure zombie kills.
Rating: *** ½
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