★★★★
Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
Classification: 15
Ten years on and still with all the charm, the long-awaited sequel to the 2009 action-comedy about a ragtag team of zombie killers may not reinvent the genre but still delivers a fun riotous adventure about family and fighting the undead. The main cast returns and doesn't miss a beat as while Double Tap retreads familiar story beats with its obvious sequelitis the heart and soul of the characters feel as fresh as it did a decade ago. It's nice to see this little makeshift family again, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg's odd-couple chemistry is as sharp as ever, Emma Stone's Wichita is still dangerous both with her sarcastic wit and automatic weapons, Abigail Breslin may now be all grown up but the dynamics between all the characters haven't changed and have only gotten stronger.
The appeal of Zombieland isn't just in its comedically gruesome horror-action or its comedic rulebook of survival but in the unity of its unlikely group of heroes. Director Ruben Fleischer wisely has the sequel focus on the familial bond between the characters as they navigate Zombieland's new threats and characters. The sequel, unfortunately, treads a lot of familiar ground as it follows another cross country road trip in search of a safe haven but puts its emotional stock in exploring whether Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock are a family through choice or necessity. Little Rock goes off on her own in search of people her own age, Wichita breaks up with Columbus, and even Tallahassee seeks the lone wolf trail once more. Their isolation and need to survive is what brought them together in the first film and so the question of the second is what will keep them together? Double Tap through introducing a larger world of human characters have the main cast question what their place in the new world really should be.
The new characters to the Zombieland universe are great, playing upon tropes from other Zombie related media such as walled communities and other lone badasses on the path. The most colourful addition is Zoey Deutch's Madison, a bubbly blonde airhead fully clad in pink whose survival in the harsh murderous corpse-filled world is an anomaly. She's exactly the right type of adrenaline shot needed to make Double Tap a sequel worth watching as Deutch steals every scene she has, her chemistry with the main cast, especially Emma Stone, being outstanding. Her character is an indictment against the violent rule-based existence of Columbus and Tallahassee as her positive outlook and lack of fierce firepower shows a bizarre alternative for surviving the apocalypse. The idea of non-violent resistance to the world is explored through Little Rock's journey to the community of Babylon but is mostly used as a source for comedy against youth activists and hippies. The most disappointing addition is Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch's doppelganger Tallahassee/Columbus combo with their scene working as some meta-commentary on the repetitive nature of comedy sequels that never really lands. Fleischer, however, does conclude their storyline with an exhilarating one-shot action sequence so it's not all bad.
The attempt to build out the world to Zombieland is a mixed bag, with Deutch and the concept of the characters true connection being the only gainful additions. The film begins with an introduction to new zombie types, a nod to zombie videogames creating different classes to vary encounters and then does nothing substantial with those additions. Early on the film, Tallahassee faces off against an unstoppable zombie that could dodge bullets and would only die until it was shot twenty times and had its skull caved in by Woody Harrelson's curb stomp. A clear set up of a larger more deadly threat however when the third act rolls around, a third act that is suspiciously similar to the first film, these "super zombies" are nothing noteworthy. The idea of Tallahassee's brutal tactics and Columbus's organizational system of survival being directly challenged and overthrown by a new form of antagonist has a lot of potentials that Fleischer and the screenwriters, unfortunately, do nothing with.
Funny as ever, Double Tap has the same laugh out loud energy from the first film with Colombus's narration allowing for creative cutaways and the character dynamics allowing for hilarious back and forths. Comedy infused with the hearts of its characters, the film is a bloody and charming tale of a family coming back together and while it's strange that it took so long to return to Zombieland, the time away isn't a detriment. It's a welcome return for a band of characters and actors that work so well together that you hope we'll see this makeshift family smashing zombie skulls once again in ten years time.
Director: #RubenFleischer
Cast: #WoodyHarrelson, #JesseEisenberg, #AbigailBreslin, #EmmaStone, #RosarioDawson, #ZoeyDeutch, #ThomasMiddleditch, #LukeWilson
Release Date: October 18th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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