Review - Zombieland

Zombieland! What a name, what a movie. Zombieland tells the story of 4 survivors of a terrible virus that infects most of the world. It starts off with the meeting of Columbus (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and Tallahassee (played by Woody Harrelson). The two of them team up because they seem to be going in the same direction so for safety reasons in a world full of zombies, two are safer than one. In reality though Columbus will benefit the most from this union as Tallahassee is a zombie killing machine. Tallahassee goes on and on about how he really doesn’t like Columbus that much but you get the feeling that he wants him around just as much as Columbus wants him around. Mostly for the pure human companionship.


After some antics the two travelers happen across Wichita (played by Emma Stone) and her younger sister Little Rock (played by Abigail Breslin). There’s not a lot of trust between our survivors but over time they do build some. We find out that the two young ladies are on their way to Los Angeles to go to an amusement park Pacific Playland that is supposedly zombie free. Hence the title Zombieland. After some soul searching the guys decide to accompany the girls and the fun really begins.

There are some really funny scenes in this movie and some very funny concepts. Most of the story is sort of seen through the eyes of Columbus as we get the most back story about his character. You learn about the ‘rules’ of surviving a zombie holocaust and how those rules apply.
I liked the characters but I have to say that the part of Columbus seems almost like it was written for Michael Cera. In fact sometimes it almost seems like Eisenberg was just doing a pretty good impersonation of Cera. I’m not saying he was bad, I was just kind of reminded of Jim Belushi trying to fill his brothers shoes. Never happened and he did better off finding his own stuff to do. Still this could have been from the way the director had him do the scenes. Again he wasn’t bad, it just seems like I’d seen this before.

The girls play an important role as Wichita is the love interest of Columbus, they set where the group will go and they give a lighter side of things with Breslins youth.

However this movie is completely stolen by Harrelson. His very simple but direct dialog was very funny. He also had very real likes that come out in the movie. You know he loves Twinkies, paints a number 3 (Dale Earnhardt) on all his vehicles, loves guns and is at his best killing zombies. While a world filled with zombies might be difficult for someone to imagine and accept, Tallahassee is right at home. There is a part that you learn something very interesting about him and his back ground. It rounded out his character really well.

Tallahassee also has the best lines. My favorites were:
“Don’t kill me with my own shotgun.”
“Thank God for rednecks.”
And “There's a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkies, the last box of Twinkies that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date. Some day very soon, Life's little Twinkie gauge is gonna go... empty.”

While Zombieland is not going to make cinematic history it was a lot of fun. It’s good for a few laughs and I liked it. I’m giving it 8 out of 10. And one more thing;

In Mexico, you know what they call Twinkies? "Los submarinos."