I really enjoyed the first Zombieland in 2009, so I was excited to hear they were doing another one. The general critical success of this cast is noteworthy with four having Oscar nominations and one winning. While the first movie was about four humans in a world full of zombies, this film focuses on how this isolated group would deal with other humans as well as the rising zombie threat. I found this movie to be an enjoyable sequel. The mix of irreverent comedy and the struggle to survive still makes for a strong combination.
Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) narrates the opening of the movie, helping to catch us up on the events since the previous film. He explains that the zombies have evolved over the years into three distinct types and a new, deadlier type. We quickly see them working together as a team by taking down a zombie infestation and making the White House their new home. We see them as they settle into a domestic life over time. Columbus proposes to Wichita (Emma Stone) which pushes her to leave the group with her sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).
A month goes by and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) starts to mention that he feels it’s time for him to move along. He is not happy staying in one place for any length of time and is willing to let Columbus tag along. As they’re discussing this in an abandoned mall, they discover a new survivor called Madison (Zoey Deutch). They take her back to the White House as she’d been living in a freezer to survive. The next day they wake up to a noise only to find Wichita is back. She informs them that Little Rock met a guy her own age called Berkeley (Avan Jogia) and ran off with the car. Worried about their safety and the guy Little Rock is with, the group leaves together with Madison to find the two.
This movie has a lot of fun with itself. They have “zombie kills of the week” shown as cartoonish ways to kill zombies around the world. Columbus’s “rules” are mentioned with interesting animations. There are several good action scenes. Overall, it’s a movie that just tries to take a dark sense of humor about this Apocalyptic setting. It honestly doesn’t develop characters quite as much as I’d like, but you still get a sense of their comradery and how well they know each other when they fight zombies. I treat this mostly as a comedy film, and it has several good laughs in it. Rated R.
Ryan
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