Movie Review: Zombieland (2009)

Zombieland (2009)

A few years ago, the comedy-horror genre was given a champion with Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004). Both touching and hilariously hyperbolic, the film is a cinematic force to be reckoned with, remaining unsurpassed in 2009, despite the much touted challenger Zombieland. Even on its own, Zombieland is a bit of a disappointment relative to its own buzz, a condition that seems to be making waves in 2009.

Despite the movie’s ultimate flaccidity, Zombieland gets off to the right start, with director Ruben Fleischer weaving together alternating vignettes of the primary “narrative” involving the protagonist Columbus (played by a dependable Jesse Eisenberg, a.k.a. Ellen Page’s male doppelganger), his/the world’s back-story, and the learned lessons on survival in “Zombieland”. And there in lies the early genius of Zombieland: the meta nature of the film’s zombie concept, grounded in more than a half-century of zombie knowledge from its critical discussion and representation in film. As terrifying as a zombie outbreak would be, the lessons we’ve learned from the frustration of watching the dumbass victims in past films are on full display, with Columbus deconstructing these mistakes and isolating their stupidity. What’s left is basically a dramatization of the recent works of Max Brooks; the real plot doesn’t even matter (and that’s really just people surviving while travelling to their respective destinations, hence the characters’ names being cities). All of this is incredibly enjoyable (and strangely logical), especially when Columbus meets up with Tallahassee (a fantastically zany Woody Harrelson). Together, they make sport out of killing the undead, and I can’t imagine a better way of spending my time. But alas, it can’t last. Eventually Columbus and Tallahassee meet up with the curiously scheming sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), where carnal emotions then come into the mix. Columbus is naturally smitten with Wichita, providing an amusing but unnecessary sub plot. From this point on, the film’s zombie killing and clever inward eye take a backseat; instead, there is a segment involving Bill Murray that arguably does more harm than good, as the film’s prior momentum is essentially “double-tapped.” The film never really recovers from this, and the initial survival logic is basically disregarded, resulting in a conclusion that makes no sense whatsoever and is only mildly entertaining.

In the end, Zombieland follows the recently familiar path of having a neat concept yet ultimately being unable to fully live up to its hype; it just needs more! And despite an excellent first half, the film’s third quarter derailment is permanent. All in all, however, Zombieland is not a bad film, it’s just not what it should have been; I mean, you know there’s a bit of a problem when you leave a movie called Zombieland wanting more zombies… right?

3/5

McS