Zombieland review

Introduction:
What is it about a zombie film that is so compelling? Zombies are devoid of the personality that vampires and werewolves have developed over the decades. On top of that, the zombie formula hasn’t had much variation over the last 3 decades. 28 days later and the Dawn of the Dead remake tweaked the formula by making zombies into world-class sprinters. Certainly, increased the fear factor but the outcome not so much. So if the genre hasn’t changed all that much why does it remain to be popular if not more popular today?

I think its because at the central core concept of zombie films, we revel in the simple ideology that the modern lifestyle is mostly unfulfilling that produce idiotic people who deserve a fate worse than death. In just the last year there were reports of infected beef, pork, and E.coli infected tomatoes and vegetables. Yet, it hasn’t changed a majority of lifestyles. When you think about how, the CDC underestimated the impact of the swine flu; it becomes a guilty pleasure to see a movie about how society ends with a bite from a hamburger. We can all see society’s own downfall without speculating about the Mayans in 2012.

Point 1:
Like all zombie films, it’s about the survivors and how they handle a world turned upside down. Zombieland takes the lighter approach. The twist is, this might be the one zombie film where the central character is better off after the apocalypse than before. This film is really it’s about a nerdy introverted college dork (Jesse Eisenberg doing his best Woody Allen impersonation) that finally achieves his hope of getting laid. Who said there isn’t a benefit to the apocalypse for cowardly noodle armed types? We all know, there’s no other way that a scrawny kid is going to have even a sniff of talking to a winner of the genetic lottery like Emma Stone unless he’s the last man under 30 on the planet.

Point 2:
I always felt Zombieland was the unofficial sequel to Adventure land. One has to wonder if the main character had to compete against someone actually attractive like Ryan Reynolds? Sorry to say, Emma Stone wouldn’t hesitate to pick the right man to repopulate the Earth.

Point 3:
The main duo in the road tripping’ first quarter of the film is the strongest part of the film. Its an unlikely combination of a sadistic John Wayne type (Woody Harrelson) meets Woody Allen (Eisenberg) and the characters develop chemistry. I don’t think the con artist sister duo does much to the film other than provide some eye candy and female companionship. It succeeded in keeping the film from becoming Brokeback Zombieland. Amazing how such resourceful con artists can fail to have common sense for the third act at a local amusement park.

Last Point:
The laughs are light, predictable plot but that’s ok because the real guilty pleasure is all of the cool ways to kill zombies. The best part about zombie films? It's guiltless mass murder. We can convince ourselves, there was no other choice other than to slaughter and it helps us sleep at night knowing it was either them or us.

See you at the movies.

Rating: Matinee