Nerd By Northwest

Was a sequel to Zombieland really necessary? Probably not. But in life there are MANY things that aren’t necessary that but still give joy. Things like dressing up for Halloween, or 7-layer nachos. In that vein, “Zombieland: Double Tap” is the nachos of cinema. You know you don’t NEED it, but you do WANT it.

Much of the story is admittedly ridiculous. It’s supposed to be many years after the first film, but naturally there are still many zombies that somehow haven’t run out of food. Not only that, but the main characters don’t seem to have changed much either. Even Little Rock is mostly just an eighteen-year-old version the same character with a few teenage impulses sprinkled in. And the plot of the movie largely follows the same pattern as the last (road trip to find missing members of the group). Yet the movie is funny and entertaining enough to overlook that. It’s also possible that the movie works well in part BECAUSE of that, as it did manage to retain the spirit of the first movie.

The main actors did good, though basically they’re doing the same characters they did before so I imagine practice makes perfect. Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee seems to dialed up the character some, and while it’s a bit much a couple of times it was an overall success. I was glad to see that Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) was given more snarky and sarcastic moments which better balanced out his already established and overwhelming timidness. Wichita (Emma Stone) shined the best when interacting (or fencing, rather) with Columbus. Many of the new characters are primarily there to provide humorous setups for the main characters, though a couple were mostly just annoying (Madison at certain times, and Berkeley just about all the time).

As for the humorous zombie-killing, the movie does not disappoint. If this is what you loved the most in the first movie, you will definitely enjoy this one. More “Zombie Kills of the ____”, more kinds of zombies, and a higher body count. While the climax of the movie kicks it up a notch over the climax of the first movie, my favorite zombie action part was actually the mid-movie small zombie battle in the Elvis-themed hotel. Describing it any further would be somewhat spoiler-ish, so the only thing further I’ll say is that it looked like the actors had a lot of fun with it. Lastly, make sure you stick around for the mid-credits scene.

The level of enjoyment will likely depend on your opinion of the zombie (and zombie humor) genre. So this movie has the honor of getting my first conditional or dual rating…

Rating:

– (If you like zombie movies) “Well worth putting on pants and leaving the house.”

– (Everyone else) “I dunno… is there a matinee?”