Zombieland

Summary: Mankind becomes infected by a zombie plague that ravages through America leaving few survivors thus turning it into Zombieland. One of those survivors is Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who is a young man hell bent on not becoming a flesh eating zombie. As long as he adheres to his own set of rules, like good cardio and the double-tap, he thinks he can survive. Along his journey he meets and teams up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a man set on his own mission, and two cunning sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Even though they are strangers to one another they can only trust each other…sort of.

Plot (A): If you ever thought another zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead couldn't be funny you're dead wrong. Zombieland is a movie that not only incorporates comedy but a different sense of creativity that hasn't been seen in zombie movies. For example, the "Zombie Kill of the Week", which was my personal favorite. It was refreshing to see this genre take a different turn from what has been released in the past few years. I'm not trashing previous zombie movies such as 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead. I really liked those films and I thought about them for days after I initially saw them. However, Zombieland allows viewers to become engaged in the story while simultaneously having fun.

Action (A): I’ve always liked well made zombie movies because they usually entail creative death scenes and this is the case with this film. I really enjoyed watching the characters toy with these simple minded creatures. As I mentioned above, the “Zombie Kill of the Week” is the definitely the most original thing implemented to this movie and genre. Are the kills gruesome? In some scenes yes, but it’s all done with a touch of comedy that you can look past it and just laugh.

Acting & Dialogue (A): This is what makes the movie even better. With the exception of certain horror classics the dialogue and acting aren't that good. This isn’t the case with Zombieland. Jesse Eisenberg’s character narrates the movie allowing viewers to hear his inner thoughts about surviving Zombieland, girls, and Tallahassee’s obsession with finding Twinkies (no joke). It was great to see Woody Harrelson in another comedy. Over the past few years his comedies have become few and far between but he still has it. Emma Stone (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) contribute to the comedy as well. Lacking in strength they use their best weapon… their brain. Also, Bill Murray makes a cameo as himself, which was great. The addition of such a classic comedian always makes any movie better.

Sex Appeal (4): There are no nude scenes or any sexy moments. There is just Columbus trying to survive Zombieland and hopefully get laid with a girl that doesn’t spit up blood and try to eat him. Poor bastard!

Director (A): Ruben Fleischer is a relatively unknown director. He has directed a few things here and there but Zombieland is definitely his biggest achievement thus far. According to IMDB, he will direct Zombieland 2 so hopefully he can strike gold again. But for his first major motion picture, Fleischer hit a home-run. In the opening credits you see zombies chasing and killing people in slow motion which is accompanied by Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (a great song that is appropriate for the film). This combination immediately grasped by attention. I also have to give props to the writers Rhett Reese and Paul Werrick. If it was not for their well written script I’m not sure the film would have been as good.

Overall: A