Zombieland

I (finally) saw this movie last night. I’ve been meaning to do so ever since it came out, but other movies kept getting in the way. This time, since my slate was empty (and I was having a slight bout of insomnia), I took the time to see it, which is a decision I don’t regret in the slightest.

Quick synopsis: the zombie plague has taken over the USA (and, presumably, the world), and there are only a handful of survivors left. The movie doesn’t show us how society at large has dealt with the zombie apocalypse (no zombie-free military bases here). Instead, we get to see how individuals go about their daily lives in the new undead-ridden world.

That’s one defining trait of Zombieland, actually. You shouldn’t go into it expecting a gripping piece on the human struggle. The plot is decent and reasonably predictable, but that’s not the point. This movie is a fun, fast-paced romp through, well, Zombieland that’s highly character-driven.

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is your typical socially awkward teenage boy who spends (or, more accurately, spent) all his time indoors playing World of Warcraft. He quickly runs into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a rather simple-minded badass who’s pretty much in it for fun and Twinkies. The pair then run into sisters Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, respectively) who con them for their weapons and vehicle. The men give chase, and eventually the four end up traveling together (though with no little difficulty getting along with each other).

One thing I really like about Zombieland is that it doesn’t make light of a zombie apocalypse (it’s no Fido, at any rate). It’s the characters who do so. Everyone’s developed a sense of gallows humor, which leads into gems like Zombie Kill of the Week and Columbus’ rulebook (the latter being a nice, quirky addition to the film, actually, turning a dire, hopeless situation into “Tonight on SportsCenter”). The tone it sets is a refreshing change from the tropes more commonly used in the genre (where you typically get stuck with a group containing, but not limited to Action Man, Panic Girl, Let’s-all-calm-down-and-figure-out-how-to-survive Person, etc.).

And while we're on the subject of making light of a situation...

This ragtag group of human survivors turns what would have been Zombieland, the Sovereign Nation of Zombies, Ghouls, Wights and So Forth, into Zombieland, a funtastic nation-spanning theme park where your family can experience the thrill of shooting down the walking dead for as low as $39.95*! This is lampshaded by the latter part of the film, as well as the movie poster, which initially led me to believe that the whole amusement park thing was what the movie was going to be about.

* – terms and conditions apply. If you or anybody in your family has never come into contact with the undead before, ask your witch doctor, military general, or Bruce Fuckin’ Campbell if Zombieland is right for you.

Now I won’t tell you what the ending is, specifically, but I will tell you what it’s not. It’s not the discovery of a cure to eliminate the zombie plague, and neither is it an escape to a fortified mountain location where survivors are free to live out the rest of their zombie free lives. The ending is about as happy as it gets with zombie movies, and in a lot of ways it offers more closure than the aforementioned examples (So we administer the cure, hide underground, then nuke the zombies. What if we miss a few of them, what then?).

Bottom line: if you like zombies, darkish humor, snappy dialogue and/or movies that don’t take themselves too seriously, then go see Zombieland.