ZOMBIELAND : A Review

Well this is a bit late, as I saw this movie weeks ago but I’ve been busy.

Ever see a movie trailer and it just rocks your world so completly you can’t imagine the movie not sucking? Some trailers even give geek-wood. And then you see the movie and it blows so badly you can’t help thinking the trailer was for another movie and not this pile of heaping shit I just witnessed. I’m sure we all have this experience. Trailers are made to make you wet yourself in anticipation of what looks like an awesome movie. But truth is very often these trailers are edited with preliminary scenes of a movie that’s barely 10% completed.  And so often also, you will see scenes that become editing room floor fodder. Meet the trailer…

Well if you thought that was cool you have to understand that the opening sequence alone to this movie rocks 40 times more than the trailer. No really. Any movie with such a rockin opener, perfect 3d opening credits and for the cherry on the top, Metallica’s For whom the bell tolls busting the speakers as Zombies attack everytown-America. It’s just awesome. And I have to say it…. Metal up your ass. Just check it out below (low quality but just pure awesome)

Woody Harrelson was born for this role. I haven’t seen him this cool since Natural Born Killers. Jesse Eisenberg is once again the perpetual virgin. I like this actor but he’s getting a bit typecast. As for the rest of the small cast, can’t say much because I don’t know them other than recognizing the girl from Little Miss Sunshine but they seriously brought their a-game to this movie.

The story is pretty much what you’d expect from a Zombie movie except it’s exceptionally good, brilliant even. Fast-paced and tightly edited it just brings the fun back into taking a boomstick to flesh eating zombies – a dried up and bland horror theme. No one has real names, they are all named after the city they come from, I guess as some sort of badge of honor for surviving the zombie mayhem.  Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has these sets of rules for surviving the holocaust, masterfully explored in the beginning of the movie as we see how the fatties were the first to die because they couldn’t run fast enough. But they are used as a running gag throughout the movie – when an event happens to prove his rule we see the rule pop-up on the screen giving the whole film a “Surviving The Zombie Holocaust” Primer or Guide Book.

The rules are as follows:

01. Cardio.
02. Double tap.
03. Beware of bathrooms.
04. Seatbelts.
05. check the back seat.
06. Cast iron skillet.
07. Travel light.
12. Bounty paper towels.
15. Bowling ball.
17. (Don’t) Be a hero.
18. Limber up.
22. When in doubt, know your way out.
29. The buddy system.
31. Check the back seat.
32. Enjoy the little things.
33. Swiss Army Knife.

You can see the rest of them – though the list is incomplete – at Zombieland.com with YouTubey-goodness. You can just tell they left the list half empty for the sequel.

More running gags include Tallahassee’s unstoppable quest for the Last Twinkie. So think Zombieland, Twinkies, Ghostbusters and Twinkies and what you get is probably the funniest cameo ever with Bill Murray, playing Bill Murray. I won’t say more but truly hilarious. The boys keep getting hijacked by the girls and of course there’s some hilarious Zombie Kill of the Week sequence. Zombie strippers running around town with money still in there string, fat redneck zombies, child zombies getting whacked… the fun never stops.

Did I mention what is probably the most rockin’ soundtrack ever compiled? Ok maybe not the best, but the music is always a propos to the scene.

I’m not gonna tell ya the story because seriously it’s not that taxing. Zombies everywhere; must make it out alive. OK there’s more to it and of course the virgin falls in love with missy bad girl and the redneck has an interesting back story. But what’s more important here is that this is to be the movie where I had the most fun and made me laugh a lot in a very, very long time and for a cynical movie lover and hater like me that says a lot. It’s just a great fun story, superbly well directed and acted with an awesome soundtrack and more blood and violence than en entire CSI season.

4 Twinkies out of 5.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)