Yes, I know I’m a few months late, but I finally saw Zombieland last night, and I really enjoyed it. It didn’t leave me thinking about anything profound, but damn it was fun.
Zombieland follows Columbus (Jesse Eisenburg – aka Michael Cera with longer hair) through the post zombie apocalypse. To stay alive, he has a set of rules that he has created by watching other people mess up and consequently get eaten to death. Along the way, he is forced to join up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and make his way East.
The way the rules are presented in the movie was one of my favorite parts. To demonstrate “Rule #1: Cardio,” Columbus is shown being chased around a parking lot by two zombies. As he makes the first run around the empty lot, the rule pops up on the screen. He makes his way to the car, only to drop his keys and have to make another run around the same lot. Only this time, the camera goes to a wide shot while the rule is shown on the asphalt in big bright letters as Columbus and the two zombies run across it. Throughout the movie, the rules are physically shown to you at appropriate times like they are being given to you as a guide.
Along the way, Columbus and Tallahassee come across Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin.) Within this group of four, the movie is able to show love, betrayal, and the most common tie between everyone in Zombieland – the loss of loved ones. However, the movie does a really good job of balancing some substantive aspects and what is basically an excuse to watch awesome, over-the-top zombie deaths.
The most obvious clue that the filmmakers were just having fun is Bill Murray’s role as himself in the movie. I’m a huge Bill Murray fan, so of course it was my favorite part. Columbus and the crew make their way to Hollywood and need a place to crash. In a stroke of genius, Tallahassee decides that they should stay in style. They pick up a map of the stars and decide to stay in Bill Murray’s house. I don’t want to ruin anything for those of you who haven’t seen Zombieland yet, but to me, the group’s stay at Murray’s mansion was my favorite part of the movie.
Zombieland deals with a few universal themes – most prominently “Rule #32: Enjoy the little things,” but mainly it’s just fun to watch gore and comedy join together in a quirky, disgusting way.
