Zombieland: Double Tap is a return to a world of zombies, movies and tv shows, and stand out from them by giving us the quartet of fun characters to go for the best zombie kills with some laughs! It has been ten years since the original Zombieland. There is also the return of the original director, Ruben Fleischer, in the period between films directed Gangster Squad (2013), episodes of Santa Clarita Diet, and Venom (2018) which had a surprise cameo by Woody Harrelson. It also features Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, writers of Deadpool (2016), coming back to co-write the new film with Dave Callaham.
The film opens with some zombie attacks and narration by our hero, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). Zombieland is now the world. This opening establishes the mix of R-rated horror and comedy with Columbus identifying the various types of zombies. Then, it is back with our favorite Zombielanders as they walk a field of dead grass in front of the White House. We have Columbus, an almost mentor figure in Tallahassee (Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). It appears that Harrelson is having the most fun slipping into Tallahassee’s boots.
The film opens with some zombie attacks and narration by our hero, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). Zombieland is now the world. This opening establishes the mix of R-rated horror and comedy with Columbus identifying the various types of zombies. Then, it is back with our favorite Zombielanders as they walk a field of dead grass in front of the White House. We have Columbus, an almost mentor figure in Tallahassee (Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). It appears that Harrelson is having the most fun slipping into Tallahassee’s boots.
It struck me that the duo of Columbus and Tallahassee reminds me of the comic book, Archer and Armstrong. The latter is immortal, so he’s very worldly, and now turned bulky like Porthos, and Archer, is a young, naive kid whose near-death experience has given him deadly skill with a crossbow pistol. They battle the zombies, which Columbus calls zees, and take the White House! The Zombielanders bring in all of the national treasures and their own favorite things like a Bob’s Big Boy.
There have been a number of comedies that are apocalyptic comedies like Idiocracy (2006), but the White House here is just to have fun with our Zombielanders instead of what happened to the occupants, most likely turned into zombies. There doesn’t seem to be any defense of the White House, everyone seems to be turned into a zombie and walked out. It seemed like a potential for more satire. They start to settle in the White House, minor spoilers here!, one of the brilliant send ups is Columbus reading Walking Dead #25, the comic book, and Wichita also finds it “unrealistic”, very funny. Still their relationship becomes tense with Columbus’ proposal complete with the Hope Diamond!
There have been a number of comedies that are apocalyptic comedies like Idiocracy (2006), but the White House here is just to have fun with our Zombielanders instead of what happened to the occupants, most likely turned into zombies. There doesn’t seem to be any defense of the White House, everyone seems to be turned into a zombie and walked out. It seemed like a potential for more satire. They start to settle in the White House, minor spoilers here!, one of the brilliant send ups is Columbus reading Walking Dead #25, the comic book, and Wichita also finds it “unrealistic”, very funny. Still their relationship becomes tense with Columbus’ proposal complete with the Hope Diamond!
The domestic life is also not easy on Little Rock who wants to have her own relationshi and constantly has Tallahassee treating her as a little kid. He does give Little Rock the Colt .45 that Elvis gave to President Nixon. This ends up with Wichita leaving with Little Rock in the Beast, a car modified by Tallahassee with a Gatling-type machine gun on the roof. Columbus finds out they left with Wichitka’s note. Tallahassee notes that it has been a month and Columbus is still moping over Wichitka leaving him.
They are at a mall when Columbus leaves Tallahassee talking about his Native American heritage heading off on his Sedgeway. He goes to a candle shop and is startled by what he thinks is a zombie. Instead, Columbus meets with a blonde who introduces herself as Madison. She is played by Zoey Deutch who also starred in Vampire Academy (2014) and comedy films including Set It Up (2018). Madison explains that she has survived by hiding in a freezer. Tallahassee describes her best “cuz zombies eat brains and she ain’t got any.” This is in the trailer and it still makes me laugh. The funny part is that the ditzy characters are usually played by intelligent actors. Madison is a great addition to the Zombieland cast.
They are at a mall when Columbus leaves Tallahassee talking about his Native American heritage heading off on his Sedgeway. He goes to a candle shop and is startled by what he thinks is a zombie. Instead, Columbus meets with a blonde who introduces herself as Madison. She is played by Zoey Deutch who also starred in Vampire Academy (2014) and comedy films including Set It Up (2018). Madison explains that she has survived by hiding in a freezer. Tallahassee describes her best “cuz zombies eat brains and she ain’t got any.” This is in the trailer and it still makes me laugh. The funny part is that the ditzy characters are usually played by intelligent actors. Madison is a great addition to the Zombieland cast.
Columbus is easily seduced by her and then a noise at the White House alerts him to Wichita picking up weapons. She has returned because her road trip with Little Rock ended up with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia). He is in this year’s Shaft and stars in the Now Apocalypse series. Jogia doesn’t bring fun to the part. Little Rock convinces Berkeley to go to Graceland and left Wichita behind. They are united to finding Little Rock and Tallahassee has to settle with taking Wichita’s minivan to Graceland.
Wichita has also heard of a new strain of zombies that are near indestructible. The group including Madison stop at a freeway and Tallahassee has spotted a recreation vehicle. He hopes to drive to Graceland in style. Columbus passes up the ice cream truck because he doesn’t like clowns. The RV though has an alarm so everyone goes into zombie kill mode. Tallahassee double taps the last zombie, but it is one of the evolved zombies, dubbed by Columbus a T-800, after the Terminator.
Wichita has also heard of a new strain of zombies that are near indestructible. The group including Madison stop at a freeway and Tallahassee has spotted a recreation vehicle. He hopes to drive to Graceland in style. Columbus passes up the ice cream truck because he doesn’t like clowns. The RV though has an alarm so everyone goes into zombie kill mode. Tallahassee double taps the last zombie, but it is one of the evolved zombies, dubbed by Columbus a T-800, after the Terminator.
They end up in the minivan, but Madison starts to get sick, infected by the zombies. Columbus takes her to the woods and returns without her. The Graceland quest is over, but everyone is disappointed that it is now in abandoned ruins, and no Little Rock. They drive on and find a neon-lit Hound Dog Hotel. This is a paradise for Tallahassee, filled with Elvis memorabilia, apparently moved from Graceland. It would just be wrong if the real Graceland was the scene of a zombie battle. They find the hotel’s owner, Nevada (Rosario Dawson), is an Elvis fan and the perfect match for Tallahassee.
They are also met by a duo who have a striking resemblence, the tough Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and the rules obsessed Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch). Little Rock and Berkeley have continued on, he is insistant that they move on to a commune called Babylon. It has a large hotel tower. They are told that their guns are not allowed and melted down into medallions. The Zombielanders have to reach Babylon and somehow deal with the T-800 zombies! The humor lightens up the horror perfectly with the usual fascination of how zombies can be killed in the most creative ways. A fun movie for Halloween, it is a scare zone at Universal Studios Horror Nights, and Zombieland fans!
They are also met by a duo who have a striking resemblence, the tough Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and the rules obsessed Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch). Little Rock and Berkeley have continued on, he is insistant that they move on to a commune called Babylon. It has a large hotel tower. They are told that their guns are not allowed and melted down into medallions. The Zombielanders have to reach Babylon and somehow deal with the T-800 zombies! The humor lightens up the horror perfectly with the usual fascination of how zombies can be killed in the most creative ways. A fun movie for Halloween, it is a scare zone at Universal Studios Horror Nights, and Zombieland fans!
Four T-800s out of Five!
#ZombielandDoubleTap, #RubenFleischer, #JesseEisenberg, #WoodyHarrelson, #EmmaStone, #AbigailBreslin, #ZoeyDeutch
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