Zombieland Review

Zombies lost their ability to inspire fear in our hearts long ago. What once were walking, unstoppable undead creatures have now evolved into scientifically contrived blood bags waiting to have the bullets of their prey rip through their putrid flesh. It is quite a surprise to me that it took until 2004 for films to start overtly parodying these undead idols. Granted, zombies, along with vampires, werewolves and mummies, have long been the laughing stock of the primitive world of cartoons. However, these were more slapstick and simple parodies and much less outright with their satyr. “Shaun of the Dead” ushered in a new era of genre parody, one that thankfully hasn’t been touched by the absurd and raunchy “movie” series. “Zombieland” is yet another golden addition to this sophisticated and delightfully gory genre.

The story of “Zombieland” is quite wisely kept simple. It follows the path of four survivors of the U.S.A’s most recent zombie apocalypse. This party consists of one neurotic, phobia ridden protagonist (Jesse Eisenberg), one gun toting, chainsaw-wielding, ass-kicking, hard-ass (Woody Harrelson), a smokin’ hot, yet surprisingly useful, chick (Emma Stone) and her younger sister (Abigail Breslin). What I mean by its story “is quite wisely kept simple” is that it doesn’t showcase it. Their point of final arrival isn’t the theme of the film. Rather their path to it, and how many quirky characteristics they can reveal and zombie movie stereotypes they can fit in along the way, takes center stage.

The main character, Columbus (as in Columbus, Ohio. don’t worry, the movie explains why) seems the most unlikely survivor for an event as destructive as the zombie apocalypse. He explains to us that there are two reasons he has been able to live this long. First and foremost is his nifty set of rules, one of the most important of which is cardio. This list of personal laws encompasses a wide range of survival tactics from common sense activities like fastening your seatbelts to the double tap rule (why be so stingy with your bullets when one more clean shot to the head can ensure your victory?) The second reason he says is that he “always avoided people like they were zombies even before they were zombies,” in other words he had very little emotional attachment to the world when it plunged into darkness.

If I had to analogize my experience of watching “Zombieland” it would go something along the lines of watching a canvas with preset lines for its painters come to life as its artists carefully colored them in. In other words, “Zombieland” relies heavily upon its cast for bringing to fruition its brilliant and hilarious seeds. Jesse Eisenberg plays Michael Cera better than Michael Cera himself. Mr. Harrelson sports a more than adequate bad-ass and Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin play the women (more technically woman, as Miss Breslin is only thirteen.) Nearly all the characters, aside from Columbus, are stereotypical caricatures of zombie-apocalypse-survival characters. However, due to the high caliber of acting they’re ironically refreshing. This of course cannot completely be attributed the actors themselves as there are many redeeming traits in the writing of their characters. For an example, Woody Harrelson’s chainsaw-toting badass is made significantly more entertaining by his strange obsession with Twinkies. There are many more instances of this yin-yang balancing of stereotypes versus quirky characteristics.

All things considered, “Zombieland” is a pretty good film. It is without a doubt another brilliant addition to the small sub-genre it belongs to and in my opinion better, if only in the sense that it is smarter, than “The Hangover.”