Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
Zombieland
November 27th 2009 01:59
Zombies – those jaundiced, shuffling harbingers of irony and allegory – are back with some kind of vengeance in Zombieland, America’s response to the inspired 2004 British comedy, Shaun of the Dead.
But where Shaun of the Dead was fleet-footed filmmaking paying homage to the slow-moving menace of the Romero zombies, Zombieland defies its own sprinting version of the undead to be a largely paceless enterprise, full of good spirit but running on empty when it comes to both laughs and horror.
In the film’s favour, it makes no apologies for what it is. The story following a hardy band of survivors as they make their way cross-country to the supposed safety of a Californian theme park (not Wally World) is light on allegory and theme, even if it does possess a nice little subtext regarding the importance of family.
With that in mind, Zombieland concentrates less on the actual dynamics of a zombie-infested society and more on the characters, before failing to imbue them with any real depth whatsoever. The humour thus feels brittle and forced on most occasions, although there are so many jokes thrown around that some of them can’t help but stick.
The main character, Columbus’s (Jesse Eisenberg) list of rules – clearly inspired by the Max Brooks book, The Zombie Survival Guide – is a perfect case in point: this should be the film’s comedic bread and butter, a perfect opportunity to ring a solid cadre of jokes from the material. But the geeky guidelines tend to fall flat, rolled out with such self-satisfied abandon you wish you found them nearly as funny as the filmmakers obviously do.
And Eisenberg himself turns out to be another of Zombieland’s main stumbling points. Not that it’s a problem of performance, more one of casting. Eisenberg’s Columbus is a lonely nerd caught in extraordinary circumstances, and his loquacious voiceover fills in the audience on how his friendless existence has benefited his fight for life.
The problem is Eisenberg isn’t really a convincing nerd, particularly if you’ve seen something like The Squid and the Whale, where he chews through the screen with a sharp, arresting intelligence. Director Ruben Fleischer and his casting department got it wrong, a little like the class bullies realising they’ve picked the wrong guy for being a soft touch.
The rest of the players are consigned to fairly rudimentary characters, although Woody Harrelson makes for a muscular presence as a seasoned (in terms of months) zombie killer, while Emma Stone conjures the male members of the audience into a heated discomfort with her smoky looks and cold-as-ice demeanour.
Throughout, Fleischer’s direction is adequate without ever being exceptional. His understanding of comic timing seems slightly wonky, many an inspired joke falling flat through stumbled delivery. That’s to take nothing away from the rather brilliant opening credit sequence, however, where slow motion, gore-encrusted zombies are powered along by Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls – great moment.
Ultimately, Zombieland is a serviceable, barely adequate film, neither frightening enough nor funny enough. I never thought my wits would allow me to fall asleep during a zombie film, but Fleisher's managed to prove me wrong.
I say: An inoffensive, mildy funny but ultimately lackadaisical film featuring one of the most uninspired cameos in recent history.
See it for: The opening credits. And then leave.
*This image is from the New York Times
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