It’s always a bit of a roll of the dice to watch a sequel to a movie without seeing the first movie. Will the 2nd movie make sense without the context of the 1st movie? Will I understand the plot? Will I get all the jokes?
Which is why I’ve never seen a production of Shakespeare’s Richard III because I’ve never seen Richard I or Richard II.
(OK, that was a joke. No, it’s not a very good joke but hey, how much did you pay to get in here?)
Sometimes it doesn’t matter. If you saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn without seeing Star Trek: The Motion Picture, well, you didn’t miss much.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across Zombieland: Double Tap and I proceeded to watch it without ever seeing even a part of the original Zombieland.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across Zombieland: Double Tap and I proceeded to watch it without ever seeing even a part of the original Zombieland.
Zombies are ALL downside. It’s all gross and icky and yuck!
Apparently, I am willing to tolerate a zombie movie if it’s funny and/or not completely about zombies. A year or so back, Andrea and I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. My wife is even less enamored of zombies than I am but damned if she’ll watch anything that has Matt Smith in it. The class warfare and societal divisions that form the basis of the original zombie-less Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen are still present in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It just has a zombies in it. And young women, if they wish to advance in society and land a perfect husband, need to learn social graces such as which salad fork to use, ballroom dancing and how to kill zombies.
Which brings us to Zombieland: Double Tap. Yep, there are zombies and yes, they are gross and icky and yuck! And when they get hit by a shot gun blast, zombies are even more gross and more icky and more yuck!
Zombies are not pretty.
But this movie is funny as hell. We open with 4 survivors who have set up home in the White House.
• Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is tough, crude and anti-social. But he’s still trying to hold this group together as some kind of family unit. Such as celebrating Christmas even if he’s lost track of time and it’s November, not December.
• Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) has a rebellious streak and is seriously starting to chafe at living in the White House. Especially with Tallahassee trying to celebrate Christmas Day in November. (For “Christmas”, Tally gives Little Rock the gun that Elvis Presley gave Richard Nixon.)
• Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a geek nerd who probably shouldn’t be alive in this dystopian zombie apocalyptic hellscape but he’s made it this far by following a set of self-made rule which are helpfully displayed in 3-D graphics that float over his head every time he mentions one. (Columbus seems like it was gonna be a Micheal Cera role. I like Eisenberg as Columbus but it damn well does not rectify his horrible portrayal of Lex Luthor in Batman Vs. Superman.)
• Wichita (Emma Stone) is a sardonic woman who finds herself in a relationship with Columbus. When he propose marriage to her using the Hope Diamond that he found in the Lincoln Bedroom, she freaks out a bit.
I’m not sure why everyone is named after a city. If there’s a reason for it, I don’t care. It just sounds funny.
Also funny: Emma Stone in a zombie movie.
Anyway, to escape the pressure, Wichita and Little Rock book it for part unknown.
Columbus is depressed so Tallahassee suggests retail therapy. So it’s off to the mall where they find another survivor.
Madison (Zoey Deutch) is the epitome of every worst trope involving young blonde women who wear pink with vacuous thoughts expressed in irritating Valley Girl speak. She’s survived this long by hiding out in the freezer at a Pinkberry.
She’s spent a long time in that freezer and immediately demands sex from Columbus. And if not him, she’s willing to do the old dude. Well, Colunbus thinks, why not? Wichita is gone!
Nope! She’s back for some weapons. Seems Little Rock has run off with a pacifist musician named Berkeley (Avan Jogia; nice to see he's still working after the end of Victorious.)
This pisses off Tallahassee for three reasons: the dude is 1) a pacifist and 2) a musician and 3) he’s named Berkeley. And there are other reasons as well. Tallahassee never lacks for reasons to be pissed off about something or another
The good news for Tally is that trail to find Little Rock takes them to Memphis and Tallahassee is a big Elvis Presley fan and has always wanted to visit Graceland. Road trip!
Meanwhile, zombie are starting to mutate, becoming faster and harder to kill. Columbus names this new breed of zombies “T-800s” after the advanced cyborgs from Terminator 2.
For what happens next, go watch the dang movie. It's on Starz everyday on cable and streaming. It's a movie that's funny, scary and stuff blows up real good.
If you need further incentive to hang in there and watch the rest of the movie, Rosario Dawson shows up in the middle and damn! She's awesome!
I actually wound up watching it a 2nd time, this time with my daughter Randie who enjoyed the movie as well.
If you do watch this, stay for the credits.
A mid-credit scene looks back 10 years to the start of the zombie outbreak as witnessed by actor Bill Murray while he was doing press for the 3rd Garfield movie.
(The existence of a 3rd Garfield movie means humanity was ready to die.)
Also, that person warbling through Elvis's "Burning Love" over the credits? Woody Harrelson.
I've heard that the reviews for Zombieland: Double Tap were mixed and that the box office was underwhelming. I guess die hard fans of the first movie were not too enamored. Or ten years is too long for a sequel and have people still care.
Without benefit of seeing the first movie, I figured out the lay of the Zombieland in the sequel pretty OK and had a good time doing so.
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Until next time, stay safe remember to be good to one another and don't bogart all the popcorn.
And watch out for zombies!
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