Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
I despised “Zombieland” upon its initial release back in 2009. The hype that surrounded it ruined the experience for me but when it came out on Blu-ray later on, I watched it with some friends and I found I actually enjoyed it. A lot. With every viewing, it became better and better and while I wouldn’t call it one of my all-time favorites, if I come across it on TV I’ll stop channel surfing and watch it. There had been talk about a sequel for many years but its four lead actors were all busy with other projects as was director Ruben Fleischer but they must have realized that in order for a built-in crowd to remain loyal to their original hit, a follow-up would need to be forthcoming as quickly as possible. Ten years is a long time to wait for a sequel so I will be curious to see if it does as well as its predecessor as those who loved “Zombieland” may have already moved on.
The story picks up ten years after the events of the first film and our protagonists, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), are still making their way across a zombie-filled America. They take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and make it their new home. Columbus and Wichita are still romantically involved but are more like an old couple now and very settled in their relationship. When he proposes to her, she freaks out and the next day both she and Little Rock (her sister), leave the guys with the intent of traveling on the road by themselves. Columbus is heartbroken and while he and Tallahassee are making a grocery store run, they bump into Madison (Zoey Deutch), a featherbrained ditsy blonde who has survived as long as she has by living in the store’s freezer. Naturally, they can’t leave her so they take her with them back to the White House where she and Columbus hook up.
A month later, Wichita returns and informs them she and Little Rock met a stoner on the road named Berkley (Avan Jogia) and that Little Rock fell hard for him and wound up taking their transportation to travel to a hippie compound called Babylon. She is surprised, to say the least, that Columbus has moved on so quickly with Madison and he reminds her that she left him and he is just surviving. They all agree to hit the road to track down Little Rock but suffice it to say, things don’t go according to plan and they wind up in a series of misadventures. When they finally reach Babylon, things go from bad to worse when they discover that nobody at the compound has any guns and with a new strain of unstoppable zombies heading their way, they must formulate a plan if they don’t want to wind up as one of the undead.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is basically a series of ridiculous-yet-entertaining setpieces that makes up its 100-minute runtime and somehow, miraculously, manages to work in some semblance of a plot. Basically, the filmmakers just paid their cast a lot of money to reprise their earlier roles and run around doing what they do best: killing zombies in the most imaginative ways possible. While our leads go through the motions, sadly, they don’t seem as invested in what they’re doing and saying as they did the first time around. Since “Zombieland,” Ms. Stone has won an Oscar while Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Harrelson were nominated so the fact that the producers were able to secure them for this sequel, is quite impressive. Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch appear briefly as doppelgangers of Tallahassee and Columbus, complete with mannerisms and physical attributes but are gone much too quickly while Rosario Dawson proves more than a match, both physically and romantically, for Tallahassee. The one saving grace here is Zoey Deutch’s Madison, a clueless-yet-lovable blonde bimbo that Tallahassee sums up perfectly: “Zombies eat brains, that’s why she’s survived as long as she has!” She balances stupidity and humanity with great aplomb and every time she appears onscreen, you can’t wait to hear what will come out of her mouth next.
In the end, “Zombieland: Double Tap” is enjoyable with some laugh-out-loud moments but you’ll be surprised at how quickly it will fade from your memory once the final credits begin to roll. The first film took a worn-out horror genre and successfully brought it to life (pun intended) by infusing it with characters we legitimately cared about and a plot that actually worked within the confines of the narrative. Here though, while it is the same universe, and new zombies are introduced, with Columbus equating them to the Terminator, unstoppable killing machines, you have basically seen it all before. I honestly don’t think a third movie should be forthcoming but this is Hollywood after all and if this film can raise the almighty dollar from its box-office slumber, “Zombieland: Triple Tap” won’t be too far away. And don’t leave the theater or you’ll miss an amusing mid-credits scene.
Now available on Digital HD and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD January 21st
