The missus and I decided to duck out of the house on Saturday to catch a matinée of Zombieland, the new horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, otherwise known as “this year’s Michael Cera.” I’d heard the movie described as “America’s answer to Shaun of the Dead.” Let me start by saying a couple of things: 1.) Shaun of the Dead is probably my favorite movie of all time, 2.) Zombieland isn’t as good as Shaun of the Dead, but 3.) I think it really is America’s answer, and it’s a damn good one.
OK, so plot synopsis time. I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler to say that Zombieland is in the “zombie apocalypse” sub-genre of movies. The opening scene and the credit sequence tell the story of how zombies came to take over the world, and when the real story starts it follows a group of at first one, then two, and eventually four survivors as they make their way cross country to a theme park called Pacific Playland.
So what makes this movie America’s Shaun of the Dead? Well, it’s a comedy about the zombie apocalypse that follows a group of youngish people as they try to survive. But with a lot more guns. A lot more. In fact, Shaun of the Dead has just the one, the rifle hanging over the bar in the Winchester. In Zombieland every character, even the 12 year old, is armed to the teeth and never seems to run out of ammo. At one point a couple of the characters find a duffel bag full of automatic weapons in the back of an abandoned Hummer. Oh, right, that’s another thing that makes this movie distinctly American: the only cars anyone wants to drive are SUVs. They walk for miles past countless abandoned sedans and hatchbacks, at one point even destroying a minivan with a crowbar, before finding that perfect gas guzzler. If it were me, I’d be concerned about where I was going to find gas when my 11 mpg vehicle ran out 3 miles outside of town.
So what makes Zombieland such a good balance of horror and comedy? It’s got a good mix of characters played by talented actors (though I can’t for the life of me figure out why critics can say how much more talented Eisenberg is compared to Michael Cera; I like Michael Cera, and Eisenberg seems to be doing a pretty faithful imitation of the awkward, shy, introverted slacker that Cera made famous on Arrested Development and continues to play today). It’s got gore, though most of that is in the beginning of the movie, as though the filmmakers wanted to establish their horror cred right away, and then forget about it. In fact, much of the violence in the later part of the movie is either off camera, or nearly bloodless gunshot blasts. Compare that to the opening credits that feature several people being eaten by zombies, complete with bites and stretching bits of flesh still connected to the squirming victims’ limbs; if you can make it through the credits without having to cover your eyes, you should be able to handle the rest of the movie without a problem. Most importantly, though, it has a decent plot filled with good jokes and quotable dialog, moves at a good pace, and ends with a satisfying conclusion. Definitely a theater-worthy movie. See it with friends.
