Movie Review: Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

The movie stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Zoey Deutch.

I don't see too many movies at the theater any more, mostly because there seem to be very few that turn out to be worth the price of the popcorn. However, I'm a big Zombieland fan and, despite seeing it dozens of times, still don't miss an opportunity to watch it.

So, when I heard there was finally going to be a sequel, I was willing to make an exception. As it turns out, my wife had the same idea and wound up buying me a ticket to the movie as a belated birthday gift.

To be honest, even though I was excited about the sequel, I did, admittedly, have come lingering doubts and, as we took our seats at the theater, I did wonder if it would be yet another sequel that failed to live up to the original. But, after seeing it, I have to say I did love it.

Is the movie as good as the original? Probably not (though my wife might disagree). However, there were a lot of things to love about this film regardless.

The part I found I liked best about the movie is, much like the original film, the writers focused on the comedy aspect of the horror/comedy genre but, at the same time, didn't forget this was still a zombie movie. The idea of having zombies evolve was an intriguing concept and the "T-800" zombies, in particular, made for some pretty intense fight scenes, especially toward the end, when the heroes had to lead a Lord of the Rings-like battle against a hoard of the souped-up zombies.

I also found I enjoyed the additional characters the movie introduced us to, especially the hilariously ditzy Madison (Deutch), who winds up being part of a love triangle with Columbus (Eisenberg) and Wichita (Stone). I was concerned additional characters would wind up watering down a movie that was still essentially centered around the four main characters. But, it gave the film some fresh life and, because the movie wasn't afraid to kill off some of these characters, kept it from becoming too predictable.

I think my only real complaint about this movie is I was a little disappointed we never really got to see the "ninja" zombie that is teased when Columbus talks about the various evolved zombies early on in the film. I thought, for sure, one would end up having some sort of impact on the movie but, once the T-800s were introduced, this one was largely forgotten. It's really too bad too because a zombie with the ability to sneak up on you would have considerably increased some of the suspense.

As I said before, it probably wasn't quite as good as the first Zombieland film. And, if they were to come out with a third one, I probably would be suspicious of it. However, I did genuinely enjoy this movie and would highly recommend taking the time to see it.

My Grade: A