10 years after the original film, Zombieland: Double Tap arrived in theatres Friday the 17th of October, just in time for Halloween, but is it even worth the price of a cinema ticket?
The plot is almost a carbon copy of the first film, with the familiar faces of Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin and even Bill Murray, reprising their roles. The film follows the original four, plus two or three new characters. The highlight of the film was possibly Rosario Dawson’s performance as an Elvis fanatic, and even that was just okay.
The film itself is just the original Zombieland with updated references to contemporary pop-culture, and still uses tropes that could be easily avoided. Some of the zombies evolve somewhat and are faster and stronger, but some stay either unevolved or even de-evolved, nicknamed the “Homers” in reference to The Simpsons. The plot of the film is almost indistinguishable from the first, and uses almost all memorable references from its predecessor in an attempt to appear relevant. The film features several scenes that directly mirror the first film, including Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) abandoning Tallahassee (Harrelson) and Columbus (Eisenberg), a “hot girl” becoming a zombie, and a somewhat heartwarming, albeit sickly sweet moment when Columbus realises the importance of his mismatched family. The introduction of the character of Maddison (Zoey Deutch) seems to be a trite perpetuation of the “dumb blonde” stereotype, and does little more in the film than drive the audience and the characters mad. Do I have anything positive to say? Yes, actually.
The film is a great time waster, if what you look for in a film is some noise in the background, some stale slow-motion shots of mindless gore and violence, or even want to see Jesse Eisenberg reclaim his role as “socially awkward manchild”, it could be the perfect film to stick on while you're avoiding essays. However, to give credit where it’s due, the film is hyper aware of the audience it’s trying to appeal to, and although the fanbase has worn thin after the ten year wait, it does a good job as a follow up to the original. The film is nothing groundbreaking, and comes well after the zombie craze of the 2000’s, but it does have funny moments, including a somewhat meta scene in which Bill Murray is interviewed for Garfield 3, a nod at the creators awareness of the sequel fatigue we're beginning to see.
In conclusion, although not the absolute worst film, the cost of the cinema ticket likely isn’t worth the 99 minutes of mediocrity. Wait until it comes out on Netflix, I guess.