Review: Zombieland

Zombieland

Dir. Ruben Fleischer (2009)

*****

Why does it seem obligatory in zombie movies nowadays to have the entire last third of the movie consist of an all-out massacre? For a movie as creative and original as Zombieland, a wasted, formulaic 20-30 minutes at the end could have been put to much, much better use. This is among the low points that tarnishes a film with many great moments.

Let's focus on the good first. I'll name three things that stick out to me: the first third of the movie, Woody Harrelson, and an unexpected guest appearance from one of the great actors of our time - as himself. A few minutes into the movie we are introduced to Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) - we know the characters not by their real names but by their destinations as they try to find a safe haven in the midst of a worldwide zombie plague. Columbus owes his survival to a set of rules he's developed, and which he demonstrates in a thoroughly hilarious and entertaining fashion.

As Columbus makes his way across a deserted America, he runs into Tallahassee (Harrelson), who is stylish, loves killing zombies, and has a strange obsession. It seems like he may have been pulled straight from a Quentin Tarantino film. One of the memorable scenes in the movie (and the trailer) happens at a supermarket, after Tallahassee uses a banjo lick he learned from Deliverance to lure a trio of zombies to their deaths by means of banjo, baseball bat, and a pair of hedge shears. Then, all of a sudden, the movie stops being great.

Here we meet the sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who are certainly unique, interesting characters, but who are overall a giant distraction. While it's always nice to see a couple of girls who are fully capable of holding off the zombie apocalypse on their own, they are certainly much less intriguing than are Columbus and Tallahassee, and the relationships between the men and the women are far from interesting. But hey, what would an original, rollercoaster-like zombie comedy be without a little bit of romance? I guess they have to stick to the formula to sell.

You may have already read about a cameo appearance by a famous actor. I will not spoil anything here, other than the fact that the scenes involving him were the best of the film, and were especially relieving during an unremarkable second half.

Then comes the so called "climax" of the plot curve. But what some writers may not realize is that zombies in movies are more effective in smaller numbers than in uncountable hordes. You know those movies where heroes can use a single punch to knock out one by one a large group of cronies who neither know how to fight nor how to use their numbers advantage? I'd much rather see a well-choreographed one-on-one duel, and the same concept applies to zombie movies.

When you can recognize a zombie's face - when they're seemingly impossible to finish off - it's much more intense than seeing our hero just using a machine gun to wipe out masses of hungry but otherwise unarmed zombies. And once one wave of these creatures are eliminated, then comes the next wave, and we have yet another movie formula being applied. In the end, the hero searching for love and the beautiful heroine end up together, but perhaps only any other romantic pairing among the four main characters may have been a bit untraditional (uh-oh, did I completely spoil the movie just now?).

Don't let my criticisms of Zombieland prevent you from seeing it - it is, in fact, funny and does have many exceptional moments. Actually, I would recommend seeing this film if only for the appearance by the top secret guest star. But once again, for a movie that had so much potential, it was especially disappointing to see such a big chunk of it go to waste.

*****

My Rating: B-