Zombieland: Double Tap (Film Review)

This is a treat.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD:

Zombieland: Double Tap is pretty much the same popcorn, apocalyptic zombie adventure its predecessor was ten years ago.  An opening monologue, a montage of zombies attacking humans, some interactive destructible credits accompanied by a Metallica song (this time Master of Puppets)—over-the-top violence, long bouts of conversing and dark comedy in-between the zombie action, being all about the little moments between its characters, the occasional very stupid decision, etc.  Same rules popping up, the same bickering love-hate relationship between characters, same catchphrase (that is literally called out in film as being "so 2009"), same cameo appearance, and same mix between comedically apathetic, touchingly somber, and gleefully heartwarming.

The sequel lacks in all originality and innovation the original brought to the zombie genre.  This should be a bad thing.  I’m often one of the first in line to criticize a sequel for repetitive storytelling.  Yet Double Tap is one of those rare instances where not only doing the same exact thing but also waiting ten years to make a sequel ends up working out in the film's favor.  The latter wasn’t intentional, the sequel was simply caught in development hell for a decade—something that saddened me to no end.  Zombieland speaks my language.  It gave me what I wanted and more ten years ago, and it still does to this day.  All I desired was just a bit more of that feeling—to get one more madcap adventure with these characters in the same spirit as the original, whether it be through a sequel, a short, or even a comic.  It got to a point where I gave up hope of that ever coming to fruition, yet here we are.  Double Tap gives me exactly what I desired.  It is a refreshing blast from the past, only more self-aware of what’s to come.

And it's not as if the sequel does "everything" the same.  The core structure is there, but the little moments are where they differ—and it is the little moments that matter most in Zombieland.  Instead of opening with a monologue of the rules, code-named Columbus Ohio (Jesse Eisenberg), welcomes the viewer for coming back for a second round and gives them the heads up on their new classifications given to the undead.  There are the literal brainless “Homers”, named after the most famous Homer of all: Homer Simpson (pretty sure that's the only famous Homer actually; don't think there are any others), the much smarter and craftier “Hawkings”, the silent, stealthy ones called “Ninjas” (giving a name to those zombies that somehow silently sneak up and attack out of nowhere), and a new breed called the T-800—stronger, faster, far more resilient, and pursuing its prey until it is completely destroyed.  

The main story commences with Columbus making camp in a little bitty place called the White House along with his makeshift family of Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).  They all apparently still refer to each other by their city, state names, most likely as endear nicknames as it would be very odd to still lack that trust over a decade later—especially regarding Columbus and Wichita who’ve been in a long-standing relationship (not to mention Columbus knows her real name is Krista).  The film wastes no time getting right to its core of witty, endearing interactions between its high chemistry crew.  The four have a debate over who should be president while in the White House, Wichita nominating herself and Little Rock as VP, the latter noting how that means she’ll get to be president if Wichita is killed by zombies. The group even has a makeshift Christmas during November where Tallahassee dresses up as Santa Claus for Little Rock—who he still sees as a little kid despite being a young adult now.  The dorky Columbus tries going along with the skit by sitting on Santa's lap, hilariously resulting in Tallahassee shoving him off, casually stating “I don't give a f*** what you want.”  

Yet not everything is hunky-dory in the zombie apocalypse.  Little Rock has grown up a lot both literally and figuratively and is getting tired of being treated like a kid by the coddling Tallahassee (who most likely views her as a second chance at fatherhood).  Wichita has additionally become rather stir crazed in her suburban (or as suburban as you can get in the zombie apocalypse) relationship with Columbus—getting quite spooked when he ends up proposing to her using the Hope Diamond, reminding her of her parent’s rough divorce (though Columbus jokingly states that’ll never happen to them as they won’t be able to find lawyers).  One driven by fear and the other wanting to leave the nest, Wichita and Little Rock do what they have infamously done in the past and ditch the boys with little notice.  The decision depresses Tallahassee and devastates Columbus as he mopes around for a month.  

Fortunately for Columbus, and unfortunately for Tallahassee, the pair run into another survivor—a valley girl named Madison (Zoey Deutch), whose stupidity is only surpassed by her ridiculously good luck, having survived the zombie apocalypse on her own for over a decade.  She's a good-looking dummy, however, and after having no physical contact with any man for ten years immediately latches on to the rebounding Columbus—leading to some very loud, fun times in the Lincoln Bedroom.  Tallahassee hilariously remarks about the noisy pair as "nuttin up, definitely not shuttin up."  Columbus tries flexing around Tallahassee by noting how he just completed Rule #1: Cardio—Tallahassee jabs back how it was more likely Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things, emphasis on the little.  He may be teasing him, but the fact that Tallahassee knows the Rules and their order is a testament of his underlining respect and appreciation for Columbus.  Along with the rules popping making their return also comes the Zombie Kill of the Week, now bumped up to Zombie Kill of the Year, complete with cutaways to insanely over-the-top kills such as a man squashing three zombies by tipping over the freaking Eiffel Tower on them.

Wichita, however, returns out of the blue, with Little Rock having ditched her once they found an attractive, ill-advised pacifistic male named Berkeley (Avan Jogia) who offers to take her to a hippie hideout called Babylon where absolutely no weapons are allowed.  Wichita, Columbus, Tallahassee (who's driven as equally by his concern for Little Rock as he is by his hatred for the hippie Berkley) and (despite the group’s reluctance) Madison head out to ensure Little Rock’s safety.  The group run into a bunch of fun mini-adventures along the way, such as meeting two mirror survivors of Tallahassee and Columbus, named Albuquerque and Flagstaff respectively.  Columbus and Flagstaff get into a passive-aggressive discussion comparing the former's Rules to the latter's Commandments, while Tallahassee and Albuquerque get into a dick-measuring contest hilariously over which one of their sidekicks is tougher and cooler—being one of the rare instances where Tallahassee openly compliments Columbus.  Side note, Columbus reveals here that his favorite film is Fantasia.  Not anything momentous in storytelling but being one of my favorite films as well gives Double Tap an extra brownie point in my book (the film speaks my language).  The word’s even spread around about the infamous death of Bill Murray, with accidental kills on humans referred to as being Murry'd.

Madison is an interesting specimen of a character, who Columbus understandably compares to 406 from the last film.  While the dumb blonde jokes are funny, Zombieland is a film series that—as I keep stating—speaks my language and knows that I want a more complex, subversive example of this character archetype.  And so, the film delivers.  Madison may be dumb, and causes more issues than she helps, but she's also sweet and kind—stepping in to save Wichita’s life at one point by spraying mace into a zombie’s face.  Yet it turns out during said conflict that she was bitten as she starts barfing profusely and looking very ghastly.  This frustrated me as it was rather early into the film and Madison was just beginning to grow on me as a fun, momentary substitute for Little Rock—but as Columbus goes to put her down, and the camera suspiciously cuts away from the gore (something it has never shied away from before), I became suspicious something was up and that Madison would turn up again.  How exactly I didn't know, though I supposed Columbus couldn’t shoot her and that she’d become some sort of super T-800 zombie that acts as the main antagonist in the finale.  What ended up happening, however, was what I truly hoped for as Madison shows up alive and well—Columbus having, indeed, been unable to shoot her but the symptoms turning out to have been her suffering from a peanut allergy.  The film knew what I wanted and continued giving me more humorously dumb, heart-of-gold moments from this character as she continued growing on me and the group.

The film’s final callback is its joyous end credits scene explaining how Bill Murray (playing himself again) and the world were saved by the zombie apocalypse from the true horror that could have been Garfield 3.  It’s not often I get to see Bill Murray kill zombies twice in one year, but I’ll certainly take it!  Zombieland: Double Tap is a Christmas gift unwrapped even earlier than when the group celebrates it.  I wanted more adventures with these characters in this world with the same heart and soul, and Double Tap delivers just that.  The original remains numero uno, but its sequel still hits me in all the right ways.  It brings me back to ten years ago—a time where things were simple and not so f***ing psychotic—reminding me of when I first started falling in love with film.  If Rule #32 is to enjoy the little things, then Zombieland: Double Tap embodies that mentality.  It’s nothing grand, or masterful, or revolutionary to the original’s premise—it’s just a good old-fashioned, fun joy trip that’s simple, straightforward, and highly effective.