Zombieland: Making zombie genocide fun again. On second thought was zombie genocide ever not fun?
Recently there has been a sort of undead craze plaguing all forms of media. Although it has more to do with vampires rather than zombies, the latter has not been forgotten. This past Friday Zombieland, a zombie comedy film, was released. It bears the tag line of "Nut up or shut up," so it is either going to be enjoyable or a complete trainwreck.
Zombieland is narrated by a college student who is only referred to as Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). A zombie plague has caused much of the population to turn into flesh eating zombies. Columbus, who is basically portrayed as a loser/loner, has formulated a set of rules that has managed to keep him alive. He recounts some of these rules to the viewer. Eventually he meets up with another survivor, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). Tallahassee does not want to get emotionally attached to anyone so he decided not to use real names but instead refers to people by where they're headed , hence the character names of the story. The pair eventually meet up with a pair of sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). After some conflict the foursome begins traveling together toward Pacific Playland in California.
The movie is an interesting take on the zombie sub-genre. Rather than having the survivors holed up in a single location formulating a plan of escape the movie has them just constantly moving. The fact that the movie is billed as a comedy could be the reason for the different take. It would be hard to make a movie funny if the characters are surrounded by zombies with no real possibility of survival. As a comedy the movie does a decent job. There were never any moments that had me laughing out loud or anything but there are some chuckles to be had.
The movie is not without it's faults. Aside from killing zombies the plot is very thin. It's a generic loser gets the girl story. It's rather poorly executed as well. Luckily no one really watched a zombie movie for the plot. We watch it for the sheer amount of gore and violence, which Zombieland definitely delivers on. So the thin plot is not too big of a concern. On the other hand something that bothered me is the complete inconsistency of the characters. when Tallahassee is first introduced he seems very cautious about other people but only a few minutes later he throws caution to the wind and lets himself get conned by Wichita and Little Rock. And then Wichita, who seems very smart throughout the entire film, does something near the end of the film that borders on mentally ill. It was something that you would have never pictured her character doing. But again who really watches zombie movies for the characters?
My major problem with this movie is that it doesn't have the feeling of a zombie movie. I mean yes there are zombies ripping people apart and zombies being shot and dying in glorious sprays of blood but the feeling of urgency is missing. In the first 10 minutes there is that sense of urgency but once the group gets together any sense of danger is gone. There was never a point when I was worried whether or not the characters would survive. That lack of urgency is a consequence of the comedic angle the film decided to use. It's very hard to worry about the characters when they don't really worry about their own situation.
The real shining gem of the movie was Woody Harrelson. It feels like the Tallahassee character was written just for him. He is able to express that bravado and machismo but at the same time express subtle signs of genuine compassion. I really don't think that the movie would have been the same without him. I won't hesitate to say this, his performance made the movie. The other performances were good enough; nothing spectacular. I mean Eisenberg has been type cast as the awkward kid and he essentially reprises his role from Adventureland.
Zombieland land is a very enjoyable film but it is not without it's flaws. There are really two ways of viewing the movie. The first would be that it is a very weak plotted film about a kid trying to find his place in the world with some zombies sprinkled in. The second would be that it is a satisfying gorefest of zombie genocide with a half-hearted attempt at characterization. I prefer to opt for the latter. It is a refreshing take on the zombie sub-genre. If you just want to watch an entertaining film that doesn't take itself too seriously you should definitely go see Zombieland. Just don't expect any life changing messages or even a deep story for that matter.
(You may be wondering why I didn't compare this film to Shaun of the Dead, another zombie comedy. The short answer is that they are really two different animals.)
Zombieland is narrated by a college student who is only referred to as Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). A zombie plague has caused much of the population to turn into flesh eating zombies. Columbus, who is basically portrayed as a loser/loner, has formulated a set of rules that has managed to keep him alive. He recounts some of these rules to the viewer. Eventually he meets up with another survivor, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). Tallahassee does not want to get emotionally attached to anyone so he decided not to use real names but instead refers to people by where they're headed , hence the character names of the story. The pair eventually meet up with a pair of sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). After some conflict the foursome begins traveling together toward Pacific Playland in California.
The movie is an interesting take on the zombie sub-genre. Rather than having the survivors holed up in a single location formulating a plan of escape the movie has them just constantly moving. The fact that the movie is billed as a comedy could be the reason for the different take. It would be hard to make a movie funny if the characters are surrounded by zombies with no real possibility of survival. As a comedy the movie does a decent job. There were never any moments that had me laughing out loud or anything but there are some chuckles to be had.
The movie is not without it's faults. Aside from killing zombies the plot is very thin. It's a generic loser gets the girl story. It's rather poorly executed as well. Luckily no one really watched a zombie movie for the plot. We watch it for the sheer amount of gore and violence, which Zombieland definitely delivers on. So the thin plot is not too big of a concern. On the other hand something that bothered me is the complete inconsistency of the characters. when Tallahassee is first introduced he seems very cautious about other people but only a few minutes later he throws caution to the wind and lets himself get conned by Wichita and Little Rock. And then Wichita, who seems very smart throughout the entire film, does something near the end of the film that borders on mentally ill. It was something that you would have never pictured her character doing. But again who really watches zombie movies for the characters?
My major problem with this movie is that it doesn't have the feeling of a zombie movie. I mean yes there are zombies ripping people apart and zombies being shot and dying in glorious sprays of blood but the feeling of urgency is missing. In the first 10 minutes there is that sense of urgency but once the group gets together any sense of danger is gone. There was never a point when I was worried whether or not the characters would survive. That lack of urgency is a consequence of the comedic angle the film decided to use. It's very hard to worry about the characters when they don't really worry about their own situation.
The real shining gem of the movie was Woody Harrelson. It feels like the Tallahassee character was written just for him. He is able to express that bravado and machismo but at the same time express subtle signs of genuine compassion. I really don't think that the movie would have been the same without him. I won't hesitate to say this, his performance made the movie. The other performances were good enough; nothing spectacular. I mean Eisenberg has been type cast as the awkward kid and he essentially reprises his role from Adventureland.
Zombieland land is a very enjoyable film but it is not without it's flaws. There are really two ways of viewing the movie. The first would be that it is a very weak plotted film about a kid trying to find his place in the world with some zombies sprinkled in. The second would be that it is a satisfying gorefest of zombie genocide with a half-hearted attempt at characterization. I prefer to opt for the latter. It is a refreshing take on the zombie sub-genre. If you just want to watch an entertaining film that doesn't take itself too seriously you should definitely go see Zombieland. Just don't expect any life changing messages or even a deep story for that matter.
(You may be wondering why I didn't compare this film to Shaun of the Dead, another zombie comedy. The short answer is that they are really two different animals.)
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