The Happiest Place on Earth! -- ‘Zombieland’ Review…

Posted on October 6, 2009 - 1:20am by michael It’s interesting that Zombieland should be called Zombieland, because for a zombie movie, particularly one in which humans have almost gone extinct because of too many zombies, there really aren’t that many zombies in it. In fact, there are times in the movie  where it almost feels like there are more zombies in that last sentence than there are in the movie. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing less than a zombie movie about splattering zombies before you become one yourself, but often great stretches of running time pass by without a single zombie appearing. The result is a feeling that the movie is a bizarre character study with zombies, like the slightly superior Shaun of the Dead was a romantic comedy with zombies. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) introduces us to the post-human America by giving us a step-by-step survival lesson about surviving in the zombie-infested U.S., teaching us the importance of such rules as Beware of Bathrooms and Always Wear Your Seat-Belt. He’s confident and knowledgable in his zombie-avoidance techniques, until he runs into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a tough talking zombie killer who is so comfortable in this post-apocalyptic world that, like many other survivors, he has turned zombie killing into a game. No doubt you remember this from the movie’s trailer, and no doubt it’s most of the reason you went to see it. Columbus is an interesting character in that he finds himself alone in this world after a life of avoiding other people because of difficult family relations and a fear of clowns, not to mention a total lack of social skills. [caption id="attachment_59281" align="alignleft" width="306" caption="Columbus's first date goes horribly wrong."][/caption] When he and Tallahassee run into the sexy and beautiful Wichita (Emma Stone) and her little sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), the movie comes up with a great potential for comedy in Columbus's awkward crush on Wichita, and then completely misses it. They could at least have put in a “Not even if you were the last guy in the world” joke or something. Nevertheless, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are smart enough to know that there is almost nothing left to do in the traditional zombie movie formula, so they have populated the movie with real people rather than horror movie characters. Columbus is a geeky high school grad more worried about getting a kiss from Wichita than avoiding zombies. Little Rock is a hardened twelve-year-old who’s not afraid of a double barrel shotgun (ok, so maybe there’s a little bit of horror movie characterization going on). Wichita is so freaked out that she cares only about surviving and saving her little sister, even at the expense of swindling what might be the only two human beings left alive, and Tallahassee…well, Tallassee just wants a Twinkie, man. Is that too much to ask? [caption id="attachment_59282" align="alignright" width="325" caption="Rule #1 in zombie survival: Cardio!"][/caption] There’s a scene where Tallahassee and Columbus come across a wrecked Hostess truck, and when they open it they find nothing in it but pink snowballs. Not a single Twinkie, and it’s a perfect example of the movie’s personality. Tallahassee has a fit of rage (also required behavior in order to maintain your sanity in a world of zombies), while Columbus casually grabs a couple of the puffy snacks and helps himself. We can relate to Columbus, because he’s making the best of a bad situation, but we can also relate to Tallahassee, because seriously, nobody likes those pink snowballs. These are some great characters. As a horror comedy the movie is a great success, although it’s not as  good of a horror movie or a comedy as Shaun of the Dead which, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the best horror comedies ever made. But the idea in Zombieland is to focus on an even smaller number of survivors than usual and show them not adjusting to a new world order where zombies are beginning to take over the world, but already adjusted to life in a world of zombies. The movie's charm comes from the nonchalant attitude of the characters toward the walking dead around them. [caption id="attachment_59283" align="alignleft" width="387" caption="Tallahassee checks his arsenal for the funniest weapon he can find. "][/caption] It’s not about zombies appearing and killing off the population, it’s about the population having long since already been killed off. This isn’t the zombie holocaust, it’s the aftermath. This is slightly less catastrophic than the future shown in the outstanding new science fiction/horror film Pandorum, which is sort of a good thing. It seems that we may have become too focused on catastrophic images of the future over the last couple years. But just so you don’t go thinking that the movie is meant to make you weep for the future, the climax takes place in a creepy amusement park, which is just a great location for a horror movie, especially a funny one. Note: At the time of this writing, Zombieland is #135 on the IMDb’s user-rated list of the Top 250 films of all time. It won’t hold that place for long because it’s not even close to one of the 250 greatest films ever made, but if there was a list of the greatest horror comedies ever made, I would put it in the Top 5. The Bean Meter [caption id="attachment_59284" align="aligncenter" width="303" caption="4 Beans out of 5."][/caption]