Friday, October 18, 2019

Zombieland: Double Tap Is As Campy As It Gets


By Darlene Donloe

Hollywood has a love affair with zombies. There are movies (Dawn of the Dead, World War Z) and even a hit television show about the walking dead – actually called The Walking Dead.

A decade ago was director Ruben Fleischer’s (Venom) 2009 hit film, Zombieland. Up next is the campy sequel Zombieland: Double Tap another sure to be a cult classic.

The returning cast includes Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin, who are, once again survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Along for the ride is Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson and Zoey Deutch.

This time around the gang has set up residence in the White House where they have made a happy home – safe from the zombies.

But Little Rock’s (Breslin) hormones are stirring and she desperately wants to meet someone. Of course, she realizes her choices are limited, considering the world is full of zombies, but she’s determined anyway.

(l-r) Zoey Deutch, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, and Woody Harrelson

Columbus (Eisenberg) proposes to Wichita (Stone), who is waffling toward not getting married. So she and her sister Little Rock set out on their own.

About that same time, while on an outing at the mall, Tallahassee (Harrelson) and Columbus find Madison (Deutch), who has been hiding in a freezer for who knows how long.

Columbus and Madison have sex that same night – not knowing that Wichita is making her way back to the White House because Little Rock decided to find her own way – so she steals the car and heads out to first find Graceland. Graceland is but a shell of itself when they arrive, so they move on. They find another music palace that is inhabited by Nevada (Dawson). When a couple of friends Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) turn into zombies, a full out brawl ensues.

Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Jesse Eisenberg in
Zombieland: Double Tap

Then, along with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia), she takes off to find a place called Babylon, which is supposed to be a safe oasis.

This makeshift family is falling apart at the seams.

To make things even more chaotic, a new strain of zombie has emerged that is much more difficult to kill.

Determined to make their family whole again, Tallahassee, Columbus, and Wichita set out to find Little Rock. Along the way, of course, they kill zombies.

Talk about a geography lesson!


Finally, they make it Babylon.  But to enter, they have to turn in their guns which are immediately melted.  One night during a celebration, Babylon has fireworks that attract the zombies.  Without guns, they have to come up with creative ways to kill them.

One of the funny through-line jokes is how Columbus doesn’t like anything to do with clowns and how Tallahassee only wants to travel in style, but repeatedly ends up driving a mom van across the country.

Just like its predecessor, the movie is a madcap, campy romp through Zombieland.

There are some very funny moments, some hilarious quips and some very gruesome moments. Thank goodness Harrelson is in this movie. His comedic timing keeps it moving.  As Tallahassee says: It's time to nut up or shut up!

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Zombieland: Double Tap gets an L (likable).

Rated R
Running time: 1h 39min

No comments:

Post a Comment