Satisfying return to Zombieland
Review Zombieland: Double Tap (R13, 99 mins) Directed by Ruben Fleischer Reviewed by James Croot ★★★1⁄2
Much has changed in the decade since Ruben Fleischer’s combination of gleeful destruction, gallows humour and great oneliners breathed new life into the zombie genre.
Post-Zombieland’s debut in 2009, we’ve had movies aimed at kids (ParaNorman), a Shakespeareinspired zom-rom-com (Warm Bodies), a Jane Austen mash-up (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), a high-school musical (Anna and the Apocalypse) and three truly awful Resident Evil sequels. Then there’s the almost 10-year television ubiquity of The Walking Dead and its assorted spinoffs.
So Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahasse (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), step back into our lives in a climate of potential undead oversaturation (and one in which the original’s rather testosterone-fuelled violence and sensibilities might be greeted with less enthusiasm).
While perhaps not as consistently entertaining as the brilliant original, Double Tap isa solid, satisfying sequel.
After years spent dodging the infected, the quartet now know their bloodthirsty enemies quite well and have been able to survive, usually with ruthless efficiency.
But, with Columbus yearning to put down some roots, they decide to shack up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. At first, the delights of the Oval Office and the unique Presidential weaponry provide plenty of entertainment, but Little Rock begins to have misgivings about not seeking out others her own age.
And when Columbus offers up the Hope Diamond to Wichita, along with a wedding proposal, the boys wake the next morning to find the girls gone.
Weeks with no word prompt a spot of retail therapy, which also includes running into the very alive Madison (Zoey Deutch). Having survived the ‘‘post acropolis’’ by spending most of her time in a refrigerated room, she’s glad to encounter a warm body.
Columbus is instantly smitten. Tallahasse is far less impressed. ‘‘You know why she’s still alive, because zombie’s eat brains.’’
Then, just as Madison and Columbus start bonding, Wichita turns back up, with the news that Little Rock has run away with a musician and is heading for Graceland. That’s the cue for more anarchic on-the-road adventures and inventive zombie kills as they shoot, hack and slash their way towards the former home of Elvis Presley.
As with the original Zombieland, it’s the characters’ bickering and byplay that generates many of the laughs. Deutch’s sub-Legally Blonde-esque ditz is a real scene-stealer. There are also delightful close encounters with Rosario Dawson’s Elvis fan and a familiar looking pair in the form of Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch. Meanwhile, fans of Zombieland’s brilliantly devised celebrity cameo are advised to make sure to stay for the credits.
But while the onscreen graphics and Eisenberg’s fourth-wall-breaking voiceover still elicit copious chuckles, not everything about Double Tap is seamless.
Rather than an action-comedy, this feels more like a comedy that becomes an action movie.
And while the female roles have clearly been beefed-up this time around, some of the ‘‘buddy movie’’ humour does feel a little bit stuck in 2009. But it is still a jape-filled joyride that’s likely to appeal to a wide audience.