“Rule #32: Enjoy the little things.”
-Columbus’s Zombie Survival Guide
Warning: This review contains spoilers. Do not read until watching Zombieland, or x-mas, whichever you prefer.
Twinkies, a detailed list of rules (that were made to be broken), and one of the best celebrity cameos I’ve seen in a long, long time. Zombieland provides a fun comedic look into a post-apocalyptic world of mad zombie disease.
The main characters can make or break a zombie movie. After all, isn’t a zombie movie all about the breakdown of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world? No, it’s about shooting zombies of course. The typical zombie-movie elements of character breakdown and people turning on each other are delightfully low-key, creating a refreshing experience in a world typically inhabited by ordinary people turning into madmen and psychos. Each character has a tragic story with hilariously varied plans of action that involves more than just surviving and shooting zombies. Just think about it, one character wants to find his family, another wants to protect her sister, who wants to go to a carnival. As for Tallahassee? He just wants a bloody twinkie.
I can anticipate some of the jaded criticism that this movie will no doubt receive in regards to the motives of the characters. Why go to a carnival in the first place? It gives Woody Harrelson fun ways to shoot zombies of course, which brings up a cinematic point about Tallahassee and zombie killing. Note that Tallahassee doesn’t get into much gun play outside of a few stray zombies before the storming of the carnival, preferring instead to use a hilarious number of improvised weapons which include everything from a banjo to a car door. Yet as soon as his #3 sets foot inside that carnival…watch out zombies!
My point here is that the movie does an excellent job of pacing the level of zombie killing. Plenty of zombie deaths occur before the final act, but it’s all rather subdued and limited to a few ambushes/small scrapes. The middle parts were a bit light on the zombie killing, but the characters are interesting enough and the jokes come with enough frequency that you don’t really care. It would have been easy to tease the audience with the scene of a big battle near the beginning, perhaps with a big zombie ambush convincing the four heroes to stick together. The gradual build up this movie employs works perfectly.
Back to the carnival, I could continue listing all sorts of awkward moments there. Why did Columbus run through a haunted house en route to rescuing the girls? Why did the girls even strap themselves to that dead-end tower ride anyway? Wasn’t the random clown appearance a bit contrived? Don’t get bogged down by these details, and just enjoy the fun ride for what it is along with the hilarious moments they provide. Rule number 34 people, enjoy the little things.
That said the movie does suffer a bit from formulaic elements. Wichita suffers the classic battle of ideals between protecting her sister vs. romantic feelings for Columbus, who portrays them a bit more realistically. A stereotypical WoW nerd who in addition to wanting a family would love to bang the first semi-decent looking chick he comes across? Not too much of a stretch in the apocalyptic world of Zombieland. The idea is cliché perhaps, but a very minor point when considering everything else going on between the characters.
Remember: despite the horror elements this movie is a lighthearted comedy through and through. As Ebert notes in his Hangover review such movies are required to end with an upbeat note. Columbus makes it to first base with the promise of a free walk to home, Tallahassee fights off an absurd number of zombies with few bullets and gets his beloved twinkie, and so on. All of the loose ends are conveniently tied together with a positive moral on family despite the grim reality of their situation. Truth be told, I doubt it would have worked nearly as well any other way.
