Awesome Reviews: Zombieland

Originally posted 10-12-09

Maybe some of you remember my Awesome/Not Awesome from 9-30-09:

"But why I am talking about Woody Harrelson? One word: Zombieland. I don't know why I'm so interested in this movie..... but I am guessing it's because late at night, deep into my second REM cycle, I am dreaming about how awesome it would be to see Woody Harrelson killing zombies."

Well, I saw Zombieland tonight. And here's my first Awesome Review:

Zombieland. I hope the title doesn't give away too much!

Getting right into it, we start off watching a young man we will come to know as Columbus trying to escape- you guessed it- zombies.

Columbus, played by Michael Cera-impersonator Jesse Eisenburg, explains that in two months time a virus has destroyed the United States of America, thus creating the United States of Zombieland, where normal people are infected by the diseased zombie people now making up the majority of the residents of the country.

A zombie-creating virus? That sounds so original! It sounds so cool! In fact, it's so cool they should call it THE Virus. Or T-Virus for short. Yeah. T-Virus. Now that's original!

But anyway, enter Tallahassee, played by my boy Woody Harrelson. Tallahassee is a no-questions asked tough guy, born and raised solely on cans of whoop-ass. Tallahassee explains that people are now named after their place of origin or their destination. Thus, Columbus and Tallahassee.

So, they team up to get where they need to go, while Tallahassee chases his dream of finding a Twinkie.

Finding a pair of girls in a grocery store (whilst comedically killing zombies and looking for the ever-elusive forementioned Twinkie), they get conned. The girls, Wichita and Little Rock, played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine fame, eventually make up a group with our two male comrades, as they try to make their way to Pacific Playland.

Let's take a quick time out: I would like to take this time to personally thank Emma Stone's parents for bringing her to this world.

Now, I don't want to give away too much, but the rest of the movie after this point is the fucking shit. The California scenes just work, and the movie really hits its comedic stride here (in large part to a cameo that might be the best cameo I've ever seen).

Let me put it this way: Woody Harrelson did indeed fulfill my dreams in the climactic scenes.

So, all in all, what is my opinion of this movie?

AWESOME:

1) It was excellently cast. Our four main characters are well developed and deal with their situation in a very real yet very enjoyable way, resulting in an overall positive experience. Although, as I mentioned earlier, Jesse Eisenburg is a poor's man Michael Cera. But it still doesn't detract. It's that solid.

2) I've never seen zombies killed in such a variety of ways with such a variety of objects. Somehow, killing zombies- the whole point of the movie- doesn't get old. It could have easily fallen into the Snakes on a Plane trap of just putting shit everywhere and praying for the best. Kudos to writing and directing.

3) The rules for survival in Zombieland were enjoyable, and while we only saw a few of them, their on-screen appearances via text greatly lightened the movie's mood and reminded us that this is, after all, supposed to make us laugh.

4) The excess of violence in this movie is hilarious. Nuff said.

5) Woody fuckin' Harrelson.

6) I could watch the second half of the movie over and over again, and still come away satisfied every time. I wish I could tell you, but I can't do it in good faith.

NOT AWESOME:

1) The beginning of the movie was confusing in that I couldn't figure out how just how seriously the movie was taking itself. I went in expecting a goofy, dark comedic tone. Instead over the first 15 minutes or so, what I got was..... surprisingly scary. Maybe it's that I expected the zombies to be more Shaun of the Dead than 28 Days Later, but there were several early occasions where the movie took cheap shots for a quick scare, and at least, for me, didn't provide a whole lot of comedic relief. Maybe this will change upon rewatch, since I'll know what the tone of the movie is before it begins. It could be possible that this movie is funnier the more times you see it.

2) More of the rules for survival would have been nice. They added a lot of character to Columbus, and were entertaining every time they were used.

3) There were some problems in the logistics of the movie, even when you consider the atmosphere in which the movie takes place. For example,

a) There was little explanation for how quickly the virus spread, what caused the virus, and why little to no action was taken to counteract it. Additionally, where the hell was the government or army? I understand it's the zombie apocalypse, but I'd like to think security is a little tighter for our troops and leaders.

b) It's not clear why zombie.... population density is what it is. They seem to have an idea of where to find "food" but at the same time, there seem to be miles upon miles of zombie-free land. Surely there are safe areas to be found. Stay away from cities, go to a small town- purge the area of zombies. Build a fence. You should be fine. Admittedly, this makes for a boring movie.

c) It is stated that the zombies do not attack each other. There's only so many humans to be eaten though. Shouldn't this mean that the zombies will simply die out as demand for food greatly exceeds supply? Zombies are the undead (although in this movie they are more like the diseased), but there are certainly not immortal. A waiting game might be the best way to survive. However, this too makes for a boring movie.


Overall, on a scale of 1-10, this movie gets:

8.5: This isn't one of those movies you can criticize for some of its vaguely relevant plotholes. The movie chooses to ignore them, and thus we should too. The point is not to be intelligent with a great storyline- the point is to have a funny and clever way to portray the tried and true zombie movie formula. And it succeeds. Zombieland is just plain fun. So buckle those seatbelts- it's going to be a funny, bumpy ride.


As a quick side note, there is already a Zombieland sequel in the works. So I'll still have something to dream about at night.....