Zombieland Is A Good Movie
If only this were a planetary sphere in Super Mario Galaxy...
When faced with the critical decision of whether to see some moving pictures about couples retreating together or Chris Rock talking about hair follicles, I decided that good ‘ol gory zombie glory from the previous weekend would solve the dilemma. Zombieland hit the spot juhhhhhhhhst right.
It’s interesting to note that this new sub-genre of zombie-comedy is starting to get popular for some reason. I mean, Shaun of the Dead was great in its own right, but after that, I thought it would be…about it. Right? Wrong. It seems as if we’ve entered this kind of “Zombie Renaissance” with popular culture being infested with zombies. From comic books (Image’s The Walking Dead), to literature (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Zombie Survival Guide), and video games (Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising) it seems as if we’ve already been introduced to the apocalypse. The apex of the apocalypse being over-saturation in the market of anything that’s remotely popular at the moment. (Though, in saying these things, I realize the banner at the top of my page depicts me and three friends preparing to slay zombies. HYPOCRITE!)
With the idea of over-marketing in mind, I was actually thinking that Zombieland might actually be one of the reasons for the zombie popularity in modern American society to plummet. Of course, the film industry didn’t steer me wrong with that idea, in the fact that the trailers chosen to precede Zombieland were of course apocalyptic action-blasters. Those action-out-the-asshole trailers about the end of the world being Legion and 2012. Legion looks as if it was the brain-child of a studio executive board meeting that just ended with, “What if…humans…had to fight angels…?” So, what I’m trying to say is that it looks like it is quite possibly a movie with a script that was shat out in two or so days. 2012 really just wants to pass itself off as an epic vision of what may come, but what translated on the screen for me is, “Check out all this shit that’s breakin’ n’ fallin’!”
Anyhow, with my negativity in place and my cynical side intact, the movie exceeded expectations. It was funny. It was gory. It was what a comedy-horror mash-up was supposed to be. The film didn’t take itself too seriously as it was definitely self-aware. The idea is silly, so it’s good that the film’s final product was so as well. The special effects were great. No gore was spared as every blood-spewing, gut-ripping visual that’s expected with zombies stayed intact. The film also was scary, providing a lot of tension and “jumpy-moments” (my girlfriend can at least attest to that, for in just about every scene when the swelling music would occur and a zombie burst out, she would be clutching my hand/arm/leg extremely tightly to the point that the blood flow could have possibly burst through my skin).
Also, the film worked because it is evenly paced and short. There was little to no dragging in between scenes as each part did what they were set out to do, which was to either provide a few hearty chuckles, help you relate more to the characters or give you a dose of explosive gore. The reason for the movie continually moving forward is the use of the “road trip” structure, in which each character has a destination in mind, and they all are on the fast track to getting there. The soundtrack kicked a lot of ass, as well. The opening credits featured Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” set to a montage of zombies mutilating or being mutilated in slow motion. It was quite well done. There also is a hilarious (I don’t use the word lightly) cameo appearance prompted by Woody Harrelson’s character, Tallahassee, as they go through Beverly Hills and he says that they’re “Heading straight to the top of the A list!” It’s just too damn funny to ruin.
Speaking of Woody Harrelson, he does a great job as Tallahassee. I thought it strange that a movie such as this would actually play to his strengths, but it definitely does. It made me want to go back and watch other Woody Harrelson films and appreciate him in the roles. For Jesse Eisenberg, being a different physical embodiment of Michael Cera pays off, as he puts the leading anchor down quite well. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as the survival sisters also make their mark in the film as they head west to Pacific Playland to grant Breslin’s character’s wish to be alone at the amusement park with her sister.
The film’s mere existence adds yet another layer to the zombie craze happening throughout popular culture, but that’s okay. I realized that sometimes just falling in line with the crowd of zombified droves headed for the multiplex isn’t always all that bad.
Zombieland was released October 2nd, 2009 by Columbia Pictures.
