ZOMBIELAND – funny, engaging and character-driven!

Staff Review

Starring Jesse Eisenberg (and in no way related to Adventureland, despite the actor’s character in both being similar) as ‘Columbus’, who hitches a lift with survival expert ‘Tallahassee’ (Woody Harrelson) and both end up travelling across the post zombie outbreak U.S. together. On the way they meet a pair of sisters ‘Wichita’ (Emma Stone) and ‘Little Rock’ (Abigail Breslin) who are determined to get to L.A. to visit a childhood favourite theme park, ‘Pacific Playland’.

As well as being a zombie-comedy, what makes ‘Zombieland’ standout against so many other ‘zombie films’, is that the characters and their relationships are the focal point of the film. For Columbus this is a coming of age film, where as for Tallahassee, it is about redemption. Each character has their own story arc, and it’s compelling to see the characters develop in such a short space of time (87 minutes). That’s not to say that the film isn’t gory, exciting and often tense, it has it all but debut feature director, Ruben Fleischer knows exactly what to do to make an engaging film. Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead reportedly inspired it, and the comparison is a good one, although whilst Shaun had (at least a small grounding) in down to earth realism, Zombieland is wonderfully cartoon like and takes place in a charming over the top reality, full of well-written film and pop culture references.

The small cast work very well together, and whilst Eisenberg does a great job moving the film forward, it’s Woody Harrelson who provides the biggest laughs, and the most charming character (‘Tallahassee’ is motivated to find the last box of Twinkies in existence). Breslin and Stone are a likeable team, and it’s remarkable to see Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) play a far more mature role, whilst for Stone, it’s just nice for her to have abit more depth than her character in Superbad (although they do feel slightly light compared to the male characters). Also, I may be too late to warn you, but be careful what you read online. There’s a cameo by a well-known actor at some point in the film, which is a brilliant surprise, and let’s keep it that way…

Last weekend, the UK box-office was ruled by Pixar’s latest brilliant offering, Up and quite rightly so. However, if you missed Zombieland last week, then do try and catch it soon. This year October is one of the strongest months for theatrical releases and Zombieland is certainly one of them.

- Sam Clements, Projectionist, Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton.