About the film (courtesy of Columbia Pictures):
Through comic mayhem that stretches from the White House and through the heartland, these four slayers (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone) must face off against the many new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors. But most of all, they have to face the growing pains of their own snarky, makeshift family.
A few years have passed since Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) came into each other’s lives and, in that time, their relationships have evolved. Columbus and Wichita are an item while Tallahassee can’t help but act as a father figure to all, especially Little Rock. It is this every changing dynamic that propels audiences into this new adventure in Zombieland: Double Tap. This are about to get complicated.
The core cast of familiar faces (Harrelson, Eisenberg, Breslin, Stone) are back to doing their thing that made Zombieland (2009) an unexpected hit the first time around. They provide comedy, sarcasm, rules and some fun zombie killing in a way that would make the best zombie games a little green with envy. In this next chapter however, the principal cast is joined by some new additions. Zoey Deutch, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch offer a few new angles (and some oddly familiar ones) to cultivate a few more laughs and additional entertainment.
In front of the camera isn’t the only place that kept the status quo. Also returning are the director (Ruben Fleischer) and writers ( Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick) to help keep the comedic and killer cohesion that Zombieland: Double Tap is striving for. The sequel is smartly written, even if the plot is a little bland. The cast of talent provides lots of humorous moments along with some over the top execution methods that would make your inner-sadist happy. There’s not anything really new about the second entry that makes it feel original. It’s basically a copy and paste formula from a decade ago but it’s effective for the most part.
Choosing to stick with a relatively shorter runtime allows for the story to not become stale or have a feeling dreaded repetition. What assists Zombieland: Double Tap in staying the “entertaining category”, is the evolution of the characters, both living and undead, along with the fact that, once again, Columbia Pictures has allowed this franchise to flourish under a restricted flag. Zombie movies are always better when they’re rated R. If you enjoyed the first one, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have fun the second time around even though it isn’t quite as solid as the first kill. Head to theaters today get your rule refresher in case you should ever end up in Z-land.
