With Zombieland (Sony Pictures), audiences experience this year’s second helping of great horror-comedy; the first helping took the shape of May’s criminally unseen Drag Me to Hell.
Director Ruben Fleischer (in his first major film effort) delivers the best zombie film since 2007’s Planet Terror, and serves as the American counterpart to 2004’s cult classic British film, Shaun of the Dead. Zombieland definitely lacks the satirical elements and overall quality of Shaun, but it is still a rip-roaring good time.
In Zombieland, the United States has become just what the title suggests: a country full of zombies.
Technically, these zombies are people with a mutant and highly contagious strain of mad cow disease, and the film begins well after the initial infection.
“Columbus” (Jesse Eisenberg, Adventureland) is a college-aged guy trying to make it to Columbus, OH, to see if any of his family is still living.
The narrator of the film, Columbus is a formerly geeky shut-in who can credit his survival to paranoia and caution. Eventually Columbus meets “Tallahassee” (Woody Harrelson, Semi-Pro), a man who has lost everything and now seeks solace in two things: killing zombies and trying to find Twinkies.
As Tallahassee and Columbus reluctantly travel together, they run into two other survivors, the sisters “Wichita” (Emma Stone, Superbad) and “Little Rock” (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine), who survive by manipulating and tricking others.
Though Wichita wants to take her little sister to a theme park in Los Angeles so she can be a kid again, all four of the survivors have no clear ambitions aside from staying alive.
Generally speaking, Zombieland is a film without a defined plot. Though the climactic final scenes in the amusement park are easily the most kick-ass in the film, the movie ends rather abruptly. But what Zombieland may lack in plot, it more than makes up for with humor and gore. Though there are a few moments that might make some jump, the movie is by no means very scary. However, plenty of zombies are killed in brutally amusing ways.
The film decidedly leans more toward comedy than horror, and the laughs are gratuitous. It’s a refreshing twist to see such an optimistic zombie film, and in terms of its tone, Zombieland is worlds away from movies such as Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later.
The best part of Zombieland (aside from a certain celebrity cameo) is easily Harrelson’s turn as Columbus. The “Cheers” alum has great comedic timing, and his character is wisecracking, nonchalant and just plain badass.
Eisenberg plays his typecast awkwardness well, Breslin is surprisingly serviceable in her role and Stone gives a decent performance.It doesn’t hurt that she’s nice to look at, either.
Zombieland covers a lot of ground in little time.
Though Zombieland has plot-holes galore and actually lacks any real point, it still manages to work extremely well at what it’s trying to be: a zombie-slayin’ good time.
Go see it.
