When I found out that there would be a second Zombieland movie, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. On the one hand, it has been ten years since Zombieland, so I wondered if they would bring all the characters back alive. On the other, it could remain a standalone cult hit movie. Not to mention that, in those ten years, there have been other similar successful zombie movies (like Warm Bodies and Life After Beth). Especially lately, it seems like so many unnecessary reboots and continuations are coming to theaters. So, is it even necessary?
The first Zombieland had a great story. The characters Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), and Wichita (Emma Stone) try to discover their new place in the world and survive the zombie apocalypse. I did like the first movie, so I thought I would give the sequel a chance.
First, I will answer the question of whether or not this sequel was needed. Yes, it was, BUT it didn’t feel like the sequel we deserved. I’ll dive into a little about the movie before I go into what I thought it lacked.
We see Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock killing zombies in a montage set to a Metallica song as they make their way to the White House, which has become their new home. They seem to settle in just fine at the beginning, having free reign over every room and item. But, as with most zombie thrillers, the contentment doesn’t last long. Little Rock wants to experience life like people her age would (pre-zombie), and she begins acting like a teenager going through a rebellion. They all notice the change, but it is her sister who knows that she has to do something about it. Her solution is to leave a note and take off while everyone is asleep.
When the guys go to the mall about a month after the girls leave, Columbus meets Madison (Zoey Deutch), a girl completely dressed in bright pink and heels, in the scented candle store. She has been living in the freezer at Pinkberry. Columbus invites her to live with them within the first ten minutes he speaks to her, and they sleep together a few hours later. As luck would have it, that is also when Wichita comes back to their White House home because her sister had left her and taken off with Berkley (Avan Jogia), her new “boyfriend.” (Oh yeah, the new boyfriend is a pacifist. He refuses to kill zombies.) Wichita soon discovers Madison, who has just slept with Columbus. Can you say awkward?
The crew takes the only running vehicle they have, a minivan, and head towards Graceland to find Little Rock. After many mishaps and shenanigans, including them trying to kill Madison because she was turning into a zombie, they are eventually all reunited in Babylon, a commune filled with pacifist Millennials. However, their peace doesn’t last long. Because, of course, what does surviving another day call for?Fireworks. The noise doesn’t go unnoticed by the hoard of T-800 zombies that are now running towards them. Because they are the zombie killing dream team, Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock come up with a plan to save everyone. This battle also finally earns Tallahassee the zombie kills of the year.
The group did give clever names to the zombies to catalogue them and keep track. There are the slow-moving dumb ones called Homers, smarter ones called Hawkings, and some that sneak up on you called Ninjas. There is also a new form of zombies that never seem to go down called T-800s (named after Terminators). This was not referenced much during the movie, but I liked that it was their way of using pop culture to label the zombies and keep the past remembered.
The movie could have used just one strong storyline, and maybe a little subplot to be the go-between. I felt that the film was trying to do so much that it lost what would have made it enjoyable. It was like they were trying to tackle the multiple layers of family, love, loss, and father figures while also keeping the humor and gore that the first movie had. The balance didn’t work, and it lost the potential to be a great sequel.
Character-wise, Berkley could have played a more significant part in Little Rocks’ journey. Instead, he felt like more of a filler. Madison was way over the top. I understand that she was supposed to be the comedic relief and the anti-Wichita. But instead, she was used as an outdated view on women looking like Barbies and was essentially a walking blonde joke. Not to mention the sexist and controversial comments from Tallahassee, which is an unnecessary character trait.
I would have preferred for the main focus to be Little Rock trying to find her place in this new world and the fatherly relationship that she has with Tallahassee. And yes, I know that in a zombie apocalypse, there would not be a lot of constant character development. However, there still would be more depth than what was given.
Personally, the sequel felt like it was trying to be a zombie Deadpool. It lost what brought in the fans to Zombieland. Sorry, Zombieland Double Tap, but I must tap out of this sequel.
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