The Movie Fight Reviews – Zombieland

The Movie Fight Reviews – Zombieland

Last night, I got a chance last night to see my second zombie based comedy in a week. This one was the recent success, Zombieland, staring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone. In this hilarious look at a post-apocalyptic former-United States, we get to hear the rules that Columbus (Eisenberg) uses to survive amongst the terrors that are around every corner and, interestingly enough, the difficulties of interacting with those that are still Human.

Columbus makes sure we are well aware of the important and interesting rules that make sure that you will live in a world where death is trying to bite your brains around every corner. However, these rules start to come into question when he begins to interact with the few humans he is able to find, most importantly, the beautiful and dangerous Wichita (Stone). Along with Wichita’s little sister (Breslin) and a loner southern badass, Talahassee (Harrelson), They head out into the world to try to find something that will allow them to feel human again.

This movie is a lovely addition to a growing number of zombie movies that intend to generate laughter as much as they intend to generate terror or fear. This movie, among those I can think of, is definitely the one that leans away from the horror aspect generally associated with Zombies. To think about it honestly, there’s really very little that could make one consider this a Horror movie at all. It’s more of an Action-Comedy than a Horror-Comedy. Not that this fact takes anything away from the movie; if anything it might help you get your local scaredy-cat to go see it.

This movie is really quite funny. There’s plenty of story, emotion and gore here, but it isn’t at the expense of a strong comedic film. It’s also not a simplistic moron-minded slapstick comedy (mind you, I love moron-minded slapstick). It is a clever, smart, but also amazingly fun movie. Eisenberg is funny in the same way as you saw in Adventureland…
[BTW, I just wanted to mention something about Eisenberg and his film choice here. As far as I can tell, the character from this movie is basically the same character as in Adventureland, only in this movie, there are more Zombies and… less… Adventure? No. There’s plenty of Adventure here. Also! Stone plays basically the same character as Kristen Stewart plays in Adventureland, but with a bit of a more outgoing edge than an internal angst. And maybe a little less sexing of everyone in the movie. Anyway, they aren’t the same movie, but the love stories are terrifically similar. Not just because of the curly haired speed talker at the helm.]

I have a few best parts of this movie that help me to want to recommend it and I will list them here:
3. Woody Harrelson! Talahassee is a really fun, action packed and surprisingly interesting character. His take on life, his story that brought him here, and his amazing ability to kill the crap out of a zombie make him an essential part of the story.
2. Celebrity Cameo! I’m not sure I should reveal this part too much, because it made it that much better that I didn’t know it was going to happen. So, no spoiler here, but this definitely makes the movie glorious.
1. The rules! The use of the rules throughout the film make me so very happy. These are the things you would need if you wanted to survive and I consider this to be an amazingly clever way to tell this story.

Ok, a few rankings… Lets do Comedy, Action, and a few of the actors. As for Comedies, I think this is a pretty strong movie… I give it spot 45, above Bamboozled, but below National Lampoons Vacation. For action movies, I’ll give it 67, above X-Men 3, but below Bourne Ultimatum. I’m gonna say this is my second fave Breslin movie behind Little Miss Sunshine, but above Signs (which is saying something coming from me). I’d have to say that this is surely my favorite Eisenberg and Stone movie. I liked this better than Adventureland, and Stone is by no means what makes Superbad a great movie. As for Harrelson… gosh, I’d love to do a whole list here, but lets see.

It can’t be #1. That goes to No Country for Old Men. But… I don’t think I can put another role above this one. I considered putting White Men Can’t Jump or Kingpin up at the top, but… nah, I’m gonna go out on a limb and give Tallahassee number 2!

Ok, I think I’m out of Zombie movies for a bit… guess I’ll have to review other stuff instead. Darn!