2009 has been an epic year for movies! I feel like we as audience members have been blessed this year with films bursting with originality and breathing new life into stale Hollywood formulas. "Zombieland," a truly fantastic mishmash of every genre you can think of: horror, comedy, road trip, coming-of-age, future-the list goes on and on, is one of the films on that list.
"Fatties never last," says Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) in the opening moments of the film as he describes his rules for surviving in a post-apocalyptic zombie nation (rule #1 being 'Cardio'). His pre-zombie life has mainly consisted of World of Warcraft and Mountain Dew: Code Red. Despite not really having close ties to his family, he journeys across the country to find them, along the way showing us examples of the rules in action (Rule #2 Double Tap), and of his romantic ambitions ("All I've ever wanted to do was brush a girl's hair over her ear."). Along the way he meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), whose own ambition is finding a Twinkee before it hits the expiration date, and devious sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who have kleptomaniac tendencies to say the least. Along the way, in the midst of killing zombies, they manage to learn something about themselves and grow as human beings (and maybe meet an awesome celebrity on the way).
Bloody good fun.
The writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have crafted an incredible script with clever dialogue and clichés turned on their head (not everyone can just hop on a motorcycle and know how to ride it), and impressive first time director Ruben Fleischer confidently drives the movie where it needs to go. They somehow find a way for their characters to have their larger than life images (i.e. hot 20 year old girl with a pistol grip pump shotgun) mesh with character traits typically found in dramas, or at least movies without zombies. Columbus' comment about brushing a girl's hair over her ear for example. Certain little lines of dialogue like that just add so much to the overall quality of the film.
The actors were all perfectly cast. Eisenberg seems to be catching up with Michael Cera as the lovelorn nerdy teenager, and Harrelson reminds me of his character in "Natural Born Killers" -just suped-up a bit if you can imagine that. This success should keep Emma Stone in the spotlight some more, and rightfully so; she has talent. And as far as I'm concerned, Abigail Breslin would win in a fight against Dakota Fanning. A fight of acting skill.
Flaws? Nil. If "Shaun of the Dead" is cool, this movie is balls out stellar.
Bottom Line: This movie, along with "Inglourious Basterds" and "Up," is one of the best I've seen this year. I will almost certainly see it in the theater again. Go see it! Also make sure you stay after the credits for funny little clip at the end.
Sources
Zombieland
Five out of Five Stars
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone.
