'ZOMBIELAND : DOUBLE TAP' which I saw this week at my local multiplex, is the long awaited MA15+ Rated ZomCom sequel to 2009's
'Zombieland' film which was Directed by Ruben Fleischer, starred Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, and was a critical and commercial success grossing US$103M off the back of a US$24M production budget. Apparently a sequel was muted even before the release of the first film, but then things languished in development Hell for a number of years before being officially green lit in early 2018. This sequel was released in the US last week too, cost US$45M to make, has so far grossed US$39M and has generated mixed Reviews so far.
And so in this next instalment set ten years after the events of the first film, and following an opening narrative to bring us duly up to speed with the passing events of the last decade, we open up with a zombie showdown involving Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) going head to head with a bunch of marauding zombies on the now overgrown lawn of the White House. Needless to say its a complete bloodbath as our four intrepid zombie killing heroes win the day using assault rifles, pump action shotguns, crowbars and pistols to thwart their flesh hungry aggressors.
Taking up residence in the deserted White House, Columbus decides to propose to Wichita and uses the First Lady's Hope Diamond ring to seal their engagement. Meanwhile Little Rock has thoughts of escaping her surrogate family and finding a man, settling down and starting her own family, but these notions are quickly rebuffed by her father figure Tallahassee. Early the next day, Tallahassee finds a brief hand scribbled note from Wichita and Little Rock, stating they have left because Little Rock feels Tallahassee still treats her like a child, and Wichita’s fear she has become far too attached to Columbus.
A few weeks later, resigned to their new found female-less lives, Tallahassee and Columbus are riding Segwey's around a desert shopping mall, when Columbus comes across Madison (Zoey Deutch) who has spent the last ten years or so of her life living inside the freezer of a frozen dessert restaurant chain. Madison pretty quickly manages to put Tallahassee off side, but she warms to Columbus, who invites the dumb ass blonde bimbo to come live with them at the White House, much to Tallahassee's chagrin. That first night Madison seduces Columbus.
The next morning Wichita returns to the White House alone and upon discovering that Columbus slept with Madison is none too pleased. Wichita goes on to explain that Little Rock left for Graceland with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia), and commandeered Tallahassee's prized modified Presidential limousine affectionately known as 'The Beast' with them. She also informs the group of more agile and durable 'super zombies' that she has come across, who are stronger, faster and able to withstand multiple attempts at killing them. Fearing for Little Rock's safety, the group head toward Graceland in a beat up minivan much to Tallahassee's disgust.
En route, the gang thwart a pack of zombie's while trying to commandeer a luxury RV, but come across one such super zombie that takes multiple shots to the head and body to eventually kill it - Columbus calls this new breed of zombie the T-800 (after the original 'Terminator'). Back in the minivan, because the RV blew its front tyres after inadvertently driving over road spikes, Madison begins to show sign of zombiefication, forcing Columbus to shoot her in the head somewhere off road and in the woods.
And so the remaining three continue their journey to Graceland, expecting to find Little Rock and The Beast, but there is no sign of either. They drive out of town and come across an Elvis themed motel, in whose driveway is parked The Beast. Venturing gingerly inside, Tallahassee is floored by Nevada (Rosario Dawson) pointing a gun in his face. When Nevada realises that they are friendly she advises that Little Rock and Berkley left for an outpost hippie commune called Babylon. Bonding over their shared love of all things Elvis Presley, Nevada and Tallahassee spend the night together.
The next morning, the pair are awoken by a ruckus coming from outside, only to find a monster truck has crushed The Beast and literally parked on top of it in the driveway. Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) alight from their vehicle and instantly it is recognised that the pair strongly resemble Tallahassee and Columbus in their personalities, traits and foibles. A pack of super zombies arrive on the scene and Albuquerque and Flagstaff, decide to fend them off alone showing the others 'how it's done'! They seemingly successfully overcome the horde, only to reveal within a few minutes that they were both bitten. Turning rapidly into super zombies themselves they are eventually thwarted and killed with Nevada's help, but not before trashing the place.
Saying farewell to Nevada to venture onto Babylon, en route the three come across Madison on the road driving an ice cream truck. They pull her over and she explains that she had an allergic reaction to the nuts contained within the trail mix she was eating when she had her episode, and Columbus spared her life by shooting over her head to scare her away. At Babylon, Little Rock and Berkley arrive and are greeted with a no guns policy as they are a peace loving community, and so their guns are instantly melted down to make peace medallions. A few days later the reunited group of four arrive at Babylon and reluctantly agree to give up their stash of weapons too in order to gain entry.
The group are reunited with Little Rock. Realising she is now a young adult and no longer needing his protection, Tallahassee leaves, as the commune celebrate the group’s arrival with a display of fireworks. While driving away, Tallahassee comes across a massive horde of super zombies who have been attracted by the fireworks, and returns to warn the commune. Left without guns, Tallahassee comes up with a two pronged attack plan. Firstly, using fireworks to attract the zombies into an enclosed area directly outside the communes walls, and exploding a tank of biodiesel when they are all contained. Secondly, to arm the members of the commune with makeshift barricade shields to corral the zombies off the skyscraper roof that houses the commune, baited by himself.
The first plan has only limited success when the zombie horde is larger than expected, and the unarmed group finds themselves seriously outnumbered and surrounded. Contemplating their fate Nevada arrives in the monster truck, rescuing the group by mowing down randomly every zombie left standing, of which there are many. The truck flips over on to its side, forcing them to exit the confines of the truck and journey on foot up the skyscraper chased by the horde. The commune members use their pre-prepared makeshift shields to create a single path off the edge of the tall building. Pursued by the zombies, Tallahassee jumps off the building, catching the hook of a construction crane as the horde falls to their deaths like lemmings. Two zombies grab at Tallahassee's leg and hold on left dangling precariously, but Little Rock shoots them with a forgotten custom made pistol once owned by Elvis, given to her by Tallahassee as an early Christmas present, so saving his life.
Little Rock reconciles with Tallahassee, Wichita finally accepts Columbus’ marriage proposal, Little Rock splits up with Berkeley, who then immediately hooks up with Madison who then stay behind at Babylon as the original group of four, joined now by Nevada, leave the commune in a dusky pink 1950's Cadillac convertible.
'Zombieland : Double Tap' has plenty going for it that will make it an enjoyable couple of hours spent at your local movie theatre, but at the same time it doesn't steer too far away from the original premise that made the first instalment so critically and commercially successful. The story is coherent enough, the zombie bloodletting is gore inspiring and there are enough undead kills to satisfy the most die hard fan, the chemistry between the lead characters is clearly evident, the comedic humour yields a number of laugh out loud moments, and there is the occasional tongue in cheek emotional interlude to counter balance the manic zombie attacks. What lets this film down is that it is largely simply a rehash of what went before, going through the all too familiar motions for the sake of fountains of blood spatter and gory zombie deaths, interspersed with the odd laugh, and a plot that is a thinly veiled road movie of reckoning on various levels, and that's about it. It is worth staying in your seat for the funniest element of the film that comes as a mid credits sequence featuring Bill Murray promoting
'Garfield 3'.
'Zombieland : Double Tap' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
And so in this next instalment set ten years after the events of the first film, and following an opening narrative to bring us duly up to speed with the passing events of the last decade, we open up with a zombie showdown involving Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) going head to head with a bunch of marauding zombies on the now overgrown lawn of the White House. Needless to say its a complete bloodbath as our four intrepid zombie killing heroes win the day using assault rifles, pump action shotguns, crowbars and pistols to thwart their flesh hungry aggressors. 
Taking up residence in the deserted White House, Columbus decides to propose to Wichita and uses the First Lady's Hope Diamond ring to seal their engagement. Meanwhile Little Rock has thoughts of escaping her surrogate family and finding a man, settling down and starting her own family, but these notions are quickly rebuffed by her father figure Tallahassee. Early the next day, Tallahassee finds a brief hand scribbled note from Wichita and Little Rock, stating they have left because Little Rock feels Tallahassee still treats her like a child, and Wichita’s fear she has become far too attached to Columbus.
A few weeks later, resigned to their new found female-less lives, Tallahassee and Columbus are riding Segwey's around a desert shopping mall, when Columbus comes across Madison (Zoey Deutch) who has spent the last ten years or so of her life living inside the freezer of a frozen dessert restaurant chain. Madison pretty quickly manages to put Tallahassee off side, but she warms to Columbus, who invites the dumb ass blonde bimbo to come live with them at the White House, much to Tallahassee's chagrin. That first night Madison seduces Columbus.
The next morning Wichita returns to the White House alone and upon discovering that Columbus slept with Madison is none too pleased. Wichita goes on to explain that Little Rock left for Graceland with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia), and commandeered Tallahassee's prized modified Presidential limousine affectionately known as 'The Beast' with them. She also informs the group of more agile and durable 'super zombies' that she has come across, who are stronger, faster and able to withstand multiple attempts at killing them. Fearing for Little Rock's safety, the group head toward Graceland in a beat up minivan much to Tallahassee's disgust.
'Zombieland : Double Tap' has plenty going for it that will make it an enjoyable couple of hours spent at your local movie theatre, but at the same time it doesn't steer too far away from the original premise that made the first instalment so critically and commercially successful. The story is coherent enough, the zombie bloodletting is gore inspiring and there are enough undead kills to satisfy the most die hard fan, the chemistry between the lead characters is clearly evident, the comedic humour yields a number of laugh out loud moments, and there is the occasional tongue in cheek emotional interlude to counter balance the manic zombie attacks. What lets this film down is that it is largely simply a rehash of what went before, going through the all too familiar motions for the sake of fountains of blood spatter and gory zombie deaths, interspersed with the odd laugh, and a plot that is a thinly veiled road movie of reckoning on various levels, and that's about it. It is worth staying in your seat for the funniest element of the film that comes as a mid credits sequence featuring Bill Murray promoting 'Garfield 3'.
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