Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Review:

It’s been a decade since the original Zombieland movie came out, and it looks like the original cast and crew is all back together to try to capture the magic of the first movie.  One of the first major zombie comedies of the century, the original movie captured all of the fear and panic needed from a zombie movie while still providing us with several moments of memorable comedy.  So, how does the sequel hold up? While obviously not as strong as the first movie, Zombieland: Double Tap still manages to provide that same semblance of comedy and heart.  With the chemistry of the four original characters guiding the film and the introduction of new lively characters adding something new, Zombieland: Double Tap is an above-average Halloween movie that will satisfy the needs of hardcore fans.

The film follows the events of the original movie with the four main character now living out the zombie apocalypse in the White House.  When Little Rock (Breslin) gets tired of being the only kid in the group, she runs away with a pacifist to a commune full of teens. While Wichita (Stone) goes her own way, it’s up to Tallahassee (Harrelson) and Columbus (Eisenberg) to reunite everyone while also avoiding the hordes of zombies out there.  Much like the first movie, there are multiple scenes that show off just how much comedic timing all four of the main cast have.  Combine this with the callbacks to the funnier jokes from the first movie and it shows that the cast continues to be just as funny as they were a decade ago.  Outside of the returning cast, the addition of the new characters that complement our familiar faces help add another level of comedy to the movie.  Whether this is Tallahassee’s hatred for the pacifists or his new love interest Nevada (Rosario Dawson), these new situations create both a level of drama and humor for a movie that truly needed it to keep moving.  With a brief 99 minute runtime, this is a very standard comedy that has enough horror to separate it from other movies in both genres. Definitely not as strong as the original, but how often are sequels better than their critically-acclaimed predecessor?  As a piece of entertainment that will capture audiences both well-versed and completely foreign to the original movie, Zombieland: Double Tap does what it needs to do to get to the point and give audiences a good time.  While not a true return to form after last year’s Venom, Zombieland: Double Tap shows Fleischer still has a good amount of talent left in the tank and he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  I don’t know what Fleischer has planned moving forward, but if it’s anything like Zombieland: Double Tap I think audiences and I will be very pleased.  As far as movies like this, Zombieland: Double Tap definitely outclasses similar films like The Dead Don’t Die and is a wonderful companion piece to the original film, but it really doesn’t do anything outside of that.

Overall,  Zombieland: Double Tap is a fun movie with a few moments of horror to help keep the movie level.  When you have a cast as talented as this one coming back together to do what they’ve known for years it gets very easy to recreate some of the magic of the original movie.  When you add a diverse list of actors to the cast such as Dawson, Zoey Deutch, and Avan Jogia, you get a new layer to the movie that maybe wasn’t there in the original.  It doesn’t hit quite as hard as the original movie, but  Zombieland: Double Tap still manages to capture the joy and terror of the original after all these years away.

Overall Score: 6.5/10