Mirth, mayhem and a monster truck
It’s been 10 years since the original Zombieland film was in theatres and it is interesting that while the undead of that cinematic world have been evolving, as you will see in the new Zombieland: Double Tap, here in the real world we seem to be going the other direction.
It never gets too deep, but director Ruben Fleischer and the writers of this film do poke some fun at the way our “real” society has changed over the past decade by contrasting it with the zombie apocalypse of 2009; but this is mostly just a wild and silly romp with the fun characters we loved in the first film.
Double Tap begins with the heroes, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone), securing the White House and moving in – which, admit it, would probably be the logical goal of any apocalyptic survivor. Why not?
But, after a few years of living the good life, this eccentric family starts growing tired of each other and their surroundingsand begins longing to hit the road again. The girls runaway and the story transitions into a crazy road-trip that takes the survivors from Washington DC to Graceland and to a non-violent commune called Babylon.
Along the way the heroes meet up with some new characters, including a traveling minstrel named Berkeley (Avan Jogia); a roadside-attraction proprietor, Nevada (Rosario Dawson); Tallahassee and Columbus lookalikes, Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch); and a loveable, over-the-top “dumb blonde,” Madison (Zoey Deutch), who steals the whole show.
As mentioned earlier, there are new and “evolved” zombies in this film that give the undead interactions a little more bite than the usual, boring “just stab them in the head” option we’ve become accustomed to on The Walking Dead TV series.
Make sure you stay all the way through all of the end credits for two additional scenes, the first of which is worth the price of admission by itself and explains how this wacky story all began.
There is mirth, mayhem, a “monster” truck, and gratuitous blood and guts galore (for those who dig that sort of thing.) If you are simply looking for a fun movie for this Halloween, then Zombieland: Double Tap is a sure thing.
Grade: 6.5/10
