BOTTOM
LINE: Proving
to be a lot of fun, “Zombieland” takes the tired old
zombie horror idea and turbo-charges it with some fun characters,
quirks and an oddball sense of humour.
THE
GOOD:
Zombie movies are a dime a dozen, but the thing that makes “Zombieland”
great to watch is its sense of fun and satire. Lead character Columbus
(Eisenberg) is a nerdy teenager who has managed to survive a viral
apocalypse by sticking to his obsessive-compulsive rules of survival.
After a hilarious flashback where a girl he has the hots for turns
in to a zombie and attacks him, he goes on the run and eventually
crosses paths with redneck Tallahassee (Harrelson), who lives by
no rules but has a talent and desire for killing zombies. The two
guys move forward as an unlikely pairing, but are undone by two
sisters Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) who continually
scam them. The characters are great, with Harrelson having the most
fun as the gun-toting redneck who manages to kill zombies in all
manner of fun ways. The two sisters are entertaining to watch in
the inventive scams they pull. Things really become funny when Bill
Murray appears as himself; he is decked out in zombie make-up to
“blend in”, and ultimately has a very funny death scene.
The opening title scene is a fascinating watch all in itself with
its fantastic use of super slow motion. “Zombieland”
is fun and entertaining, and delivers a nice blood-pumping zombie
kill fest which fans, and non-fans should enjoy.
THE
BAD:
The film does have some flat moments here and there, spread out
throughout the entire run of the film. At times it looks quite low
budget. Presenting an empty landscape devoid of human life works
great in some aspects, but in others, it looks cheap, as if the
filmmakers just showed up in a van with the camera and actors and
started shooting. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with
that, but for a film with a $24 million budget, the visuals are
a little lacking in places.