Zombieland Double Tap

CInEMA
CInEMA
Nov 1 · 3 min read

Fictitious protagonists threatened by fictitious villains in a fictitious story — is this adventure-comedy-thriller to be taken seriously?

Technical assessment: 3 ★★★✩✩
Moral assessment:
2.5 ★★✬✩✩
CINEMA rating:
V16
MTRCB rating: R13

It’s been a decade since the four survivors of Zombieland — Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and her little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) — rode off into the sunset to escape from the undead. Now they’re a makeshift family unit, holing up in the abandoned White House. A lot has changed in 10 years: Columbus proposes marriage to Wichita who flatly rejects it. Tallahassee has grown comfortable in his role as ring leader and father figure to Little Rock who has lost much of her baby fat and now sports a cleavage. Little Rock is beginning to feel stifled by Tallahassee’s overprotection of her and so convinces Wichita to run off. At a mall, Columbus runs into a ditzy girl hiding in the freezer, Madison (Zoey Deutch) and lets her join him back to the White House — and in bed. Soon, Wichita returns alone; saying Little Rock had run off with a guitar-strumming, weed-smoking hippie (Avan Jogia). The odd quartet sets off to search for Little Rock, fully armed to face the new and tougher death-defying breed of zombies.

As the four lead characters reprise their roles in 2009’s Zombieland, the same acting calibre and crispy dialogues may be expected. The plot is advanced by “rules” — made up from their experience 10 years ago and flashed onscreen — that are supposed to help them survive in the ever widening ghoulish territory. Besides the presence of Deutch whose impeccable comedic timing steals every scene she’s in, Zombieland Double Tap hardly brings anything new to the walking dead table. Well, maybe there’s just lots more and faster moving zombies providing the thrills as they chase the grossly outnumbered humans like lemmings. After a decade of zombie movies this one succeeds in being more gory and yucky, often eliciting “Eew!” from viewers. Picture zombie skulls cracked underfoot like blood-filled eggshells, severed limbs flying in the air, guts spilling out of zombie bellies! Bloody hell, as the Brits would say.

Fictitious protagonists threatened by fictitious villains in a fictitious story — is this adventure-comedy-thriller to be taken seriously? At least it does not pretend to offer a moral lesson. However, it shows the value of sticking together to help those dear to us, and in trying caring for them and others on the same boat. Casual sex is treated casually here although the couple agrees to marry in the end. Caution: imitative behaviour relating to drug use, alcohol and foul language makes the movie unfit for young impressionable viewers. Bonus: if you must watch it, be there before it starts — you wouldn’t want to miss the high-impact two-second action involving the demure lady in the Columbia Pictures logo. — TRT

DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer LEAD CAST: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Luke Wilson, Avan Jogia WRITTEN BY: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Dave Callaham NARRATED BY: Jesse Eisenberg PRODUCERS: Gavin Polone GENRE: Action, Comedy, Horror MUSIC BY: David Sardy EDITED BY: Dirk Westervelt CINEMATOGRAPHY: Chung Chung-hoon PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Columbia Pictures, Pariah, 2.0 Entertainment DISTRIBUTED BY: Sony Pictures Releasing COUNTRY: United States LANGUAGE: English RUNNING TIME: 1 hour 39 minutes

CBCPCINEMA

The film rating and classification board of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Episcopal Commission for Social Communication and Mass Media.

CInEMA

Written by

CInEMA

The film rating and classification board of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

CBCPCINEMA

The film rating and classification board of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Episcopal Commission for Social Communication and Mass Media.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade