It’s been a decade since the start of the zombie apocalypse, and Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) are still together as a makeshift family that kills zombies together. Having recently moved into the White House, Columbus and Wichita are a couple and he has marriage on his mind. Little Rock is an adult, but Tallahassee still treats her like a little girl and she’s tired of it. When Columbus pops the question, Wichita is non-committal, but more than a little freaked out. She and Little Rock take the latest version of the Beast, made from a presidential limousine, and hit the road where they nearly run over a young man named Berkeley (Avan Jogia) who joins them on their journey. Little Rock falls for Berkeley and they take the Beast, abandoning Wichita. Meanwhile, Tallahassee and Columbus are exploring a nearby shopping mall when they discover Madison (Zoey Deutch) who has been living in the freezer of a Pinkberry. She’s not smart, self-obsessed and instantly annoys Tallahassee, but Columbus invites her back to the White House. After sleeping with Madison, Columbus discovers Wichita has come back to get guns and ammo to look for Little Rock. Tallahassee is concerned about Little Rock’s safety as he learns Berkeley is a pacifist. After a quick stop to visit Graceland where they meet Nevada (Rosario Dawson), Albuquerque (Luke Wilson), and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch), the group learns Berkeley is looking for an oasis in the zombie wasteland called Babylon where guns are not permitted. Also, on this journey they discover a new kind of zombie. One that’s faster and harder to kill.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is an enjoyable piece of fluff. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel the way “Zombieland” did back in 2009. However, the twist on the genre pulled off by the original film included some relatable emotion and grounding in reality. The sequel goes only for laughs which, in my opinion, is a weakness and a cop out.
This version of “Zombieland: Double Tap” is probably eight years too late. According to the sequel’s Wikipedia page, work began on the follow-up almost immediately and all the stars were on board. As the film makers were working on other projects, “Zombieland: Double Tap” got moved further back and was nearly lost. There were plans for a TV series with a pilot episode being made for consideration on Amazon Prime streaming, but that wasn’t picked up. The script writers, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (who worked on the original) and Dave Callaham, have been batting around ideas for this movie for nearly a decade. While it is an entertaining film, there’s no substance or depth.
The humor of “Zombieland: Double Tap” is there. There are jokes layered on jokes and the audience isn’t given much chance to recover from one punchline to the next set up. Both Madison and Berkeley are living jokes as her pink outfits and lack of smarts, and his goofy hippie songs and pacifism make them both the antithesis of the original core group. Albuquerque and Flagstaff are supposed to be like the clones of Tallahassee and Columbus which has a limited amount of comedic potential that is mined to the fullest. There’s nothing wrong with leaning more heavily on the humor in the sequel. Yet the film feels like a pale imitation of the original.
In my review of “Zombieland” I said, “We get a little romance, some heartwarming moments, and of course, the walking, running, black-gunk-spurting, intestine-eating undead to round out the experience.” “Zombieland: Double Tap” lacks most of this except the zombie part. The sequel wrings the life out of the characters, turning them into caricatures of their former selves. Tallahassee was grieving the loss of his child. Columbus was saying goodbye to his family that was likely dead. The older sister was taking her younger sister on a family trip to try and convey some sort of normalcy and fun in their constantly-out-running-death lives. There was some meaning in their journey that is lacking in the sequel. Wanting to visit Graceland is not enough of an emotional goal to make the trip worth it.
I will now also bring up the meaningless minutiae I wondered about a decade earlier. How is there still gas and electricity a full 10 years since society collapsed? Columbus talks about, as long as it rains, dams will make electricity, but I don’t think that can go on indefinitely without some human intervention. While there are fewer people to use gasoline, after a decade it would likely start to run out, or at least evaporate. And where are all the bullets, shotgun shells and grenades coming from? After all this time, the Walmart’s, Cabella’s, Bass Pro Shop’s and other retail and military sources would have been stripped bare. If “Star Trek” taught me anything, it’s that gunpowder can be made with basic ingredients, and shells and cartridges can be reloaded with the proper equipment, but we don’t see any of this stuff being produced, so where is it coming from? Again, I know this isn’t important and every question won’t be answered by a movie produced to make money, but I still wonder.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is rated R for bloody violence, language throughout, some drug and sexual content. Naturally, we see lots of zombies killed, or re-killed, with their heads blown off, run over, and, in at least one case, stomped. We also see a couple of humans transform into zombies which initially involves a fair amount of vomit. Cannabis is shown in a bag and being smoked. It is also referenced a few times. Sexuality is kept mild with only sound to suggest sex is happening. Foul language is common throughout.
In the original film, we had the Zombie Kill of the Week. That has been amped up to the Zombie Kill of the Year. The two that are shown are appropriately over-the-top and ridiculous, much like this sequel. I didn’t hate it. It’s fine, but I wanted more. Not more zombie death or more humor, but more humanity. It would appear the film makers double tapped the honest emotion out of their story.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” gets three guitars out of five.
Next month’s review for WIMZ.com is “
Ford v Ferrari
.”
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