Zombieland: Double Tap

Image credit: Odeon

It seems like an eternity since I went to the movies! I think It Chapter II might have been the last and that was only because I had a cheap promo ticket thing. There has just been nothing on, a real movie drought, but it looks like November is when we can expect a little rain. I started off this cinematic wet-season with Zombieland: Double Tap.

Families can be hard to keep together. More so in the face of an ever-present zombie hoard. After Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) move into the abandoned White House, tensions start to rise as Little Rock yearns to be around survivors her own age, Columbus and Wichita have couples issues, and Tallahassee starts to get the nomadic itch. And the outside world is just as tense, with a new type of zombie emerging; one that’s smarter, faster, and harder to kill. Bring it on!

This metafictive little gem is a whole lot of fun. It adheres to the same style and humour of the first film, but with a refreshing twist of new narratives, character development, and relatable themes. The funniest thing about the movie is how the central conflict stems from these everyday dramas that each and every one of us goes through, and it’s made more epic by the fact that these normalities are trying to be achieved in a totally un-normal world. Who would think to make a coming-of-age/grown ups growing up film set against a dystopian, zombie-apocalypse background? Ruben Fleischer, Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick!

Image credit: Hypebeast

The same cutting humour and dialogue from the first movie is still the real hero of this film, being delivered with perfect timing and performance from the cast. Between Eisenberg’s speedy and intelligent monologues and Harrelson’s brutish and hilarious bouts of rhyming, it’s nothing but happy fun times ahead.

Snaps definitely go to the makeup and effects department for their delightfully gross and stomach-churning achievements in zombie gore.

Zombieland: Double Tap really is more of the same thing as Zombieland and there’s nothing wrong with that! If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!

Director: Ruben Fleischer, 2019

Cast: Jessie Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, Zoe Deutch, Avan Jogia, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, and Bill Murray