Zombieland

Zombieland
2008 - Columbia Pictures
Directed By Ruben Fleischer



SYNOPSIS

A bad-ass (Woody Harrelson) and a neurotic wimp (Jesse Eisenberg) team up as some of the only humans left in the world after a plague turns everyone into zombies. Along their travels, they meet up with two sisters (Emma Stone + Abigail Breslin.) The crew heads to California. After some infighting, the girls leave. They head to an amusement park that's supposed to be devoid of zombies but after they get there, they find the place is crawling with them! Now it's the guys' turn to save the day.



MY THOUGHTS

Over the past decade or so, the horror genre has floundered. The only type of horror film that has been consistently interesting and exciting is the zombie film.
The return of Director George Romero to the genre, films like 28 Days Later (and it's sequel,) and the comedy Shaun Of The Dead are the main highlights of the resurgent sub-genre.
Zombieland belongs with them.

Zombieland lacks the social commentary and other deeper meanings that fuel much of those films. It's all about kicking ass and trying to have a good time in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The film is pure fun. The humor is fresh and there's many laugh-out-loud moments and instantly quotable lines.
There's an amazing cameo in the film, but I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but it's one of the highlights of the film.

The humor, action and scares all take a backseat to the main characters. The four leads are uniformly excellent. The characters they create seem real and help ground the story in this unreal environment. The way they react and interact with each other is remarkable, especially in the horror genre. So many horror films lack this and you never get emotionally invested in the characters and don't care if they die. Thankfully, in Zombieland you do feel for these people.

Zombieland is a character study, and one of the few that completely lacks any pretentiousness.
It's a fun and hilarious ride from start to finish and will certainly become a classic of the genre.