“Zombieland” is one of my favorite movies to watch. It’s not some award-winning masterpiece, but every time I watch it, my eyes are glued to the screen with pure enjoyment.
The same can be said with “Zombieland: Double Tap,” which follows characters Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock as they continue to fight off zombies across the United States.
Almost everyone attached to “Zombieland” has had their careers take off. Emma Stone has since been nominated for three Oscars, including one win. Jesse Eisenberg was nominated for an Oscar, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick went on to write the two “Deadpool” movies, and director Rueben Fleischer went on to direct the box office hit “Venom.” So now that they all have established careers, I was excited to see what product they could make 10 years after the original film.
I was not disappointed. My favorite things about the first movie were the characters and the chemistry the actors shared. Thankfully, that still carried over into this film. It is very clear that all of these actors are having a blast coming back into character.
In addition to the four original cast members, there are several new characters added, featuring the performances from star-studded actors such as Rosario Dawson and Luke Wilson. But out of all the new characters, the best was Madison, portrayed by Zoey Deutch. Deutch plays a blonde bimbo and was easily the funniest cast member. For example, instead of shooting zombies, she sprays them with pepper spray.
In order to keep the film feeling fresh, new zombies are introduced. There are Homerss (as in Homer Simpson) which are considered the dumb zombies and will do things like try to catch butterflies instead of attacking humans. There are also Hawkings (as in Stephen Hawking) and ninjas. Having these new zombies added even more of a comedic element to the film that I loved.
There is also an amazing long take in the film in which Columbus and Tallahassee are fighting two zombies classified as T-800s (from “Terminator”) which are an evolved zombie that are agile and will not die after a few shots to the head. This long take caught me off guard because I never expected something like that in a movie like this. It was choreographed perfectly and was clever addition.
As far as issues go, there are a few subplots that I didn’t enjoy. The biggest one was with Columbus proposing to Wichita. I hated this because both movies are filled with stupid humor, but this wasn’t used as a comedic element. This was taken way too seriously, even though it makes no sense.
The other subplot has to with Little Rock running away with a pacifist to go to Graceland. In a film so fast-paced, when they cut to this section of the film, it dragged. The only reason this was added was to make sure Abigail Breslin got a good amount of screen time, considering she is one of the four core members of the two films.
At the end of the day, this is not a movie that will blow you away with its thought-provoking themes. You probably won’t leave this movie thinking that you have just witnessed something instrumental to the film industry. But, you will leave with a smile on your face.
Was this movie necessary? No, and I don’t care. Was this one of the most fun times I have had in a movie theater. Yep.
Grade: B+
Story by Jake Ditto