The original Zombieland is one of my top ten favorite movies. I love a good genre mashup, and this is such a seamless one, you really can’t say it’s one or the other. The dark and clever humor is right up my alley (to the point where I always associate the film with an excited phone call I got from my Daddy after he saw the trailer for something that he knew I was going to love). Ten years later, we’ve got another installment, and you bet your Twinkies I was there opening night.
Our fearsome foursome have been living in quiet chaos in Zombieland for the past ten years, but they’re getting restless. Little Rock wants to meet people her own age. Wichita is feeling tied down. Tallahassee is feeling the call of the open road. Only Columbus is perfectly content to stay hunkered down in the white house. When Little Rock does make a break for it, the others hafta decide whether to shut up or nut up and go after her. I think you know which they picked.
The opening credits sequence in the original might possibly be my favorite opening credits sequence ever. I got hopeful hearing the familiar bars of a different Metallica song playing, but it just didn’t live up. Something was missing. My heart dropped as the tone was set for the rest of the film: fun but missing something.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. It was very funny, and the new cast members certainly gave it some life. The third act in particular really brought things back to form, but I wasn’t feeling it like the first time. I wanted more. More excitement. More surprises. More envelopes pushed. I wouldn’t say this felt lazy, but it didn’t feel as innovative as before. I’m happy to have returned to Z-land, I