well, i know it's rather rare that we get to sit and watch new or recent movies, but the numerous good reviews and comments about Zombieland meant that we felt compelled to seek it out and watch it. see Spiros and Richard, i do listen to your advice, if only as and when it suits me.
to be honest, watching a film starring Woody Harrelson and featuring a chainsaw on the poster wasn't going to be too much like hard work for me. quality horror films are getting to be far and few between, it has to be said, so anything that looked promising was likely to get a watch sooner or later.
whilst not an outright horror film - it's more a "comedy with horror elements" rather than a "horror comedy" or a horrid "horror spoof" - it is indeed, upfront, a most splendid film indeed.
the basic plot premise of Zombieland is that, thanks to one undercooked "mad cow disease" infected burger, the overwhelming population of America has been turned into Zombies, all craving and seeking the last few humans to eat. the film does not (thankfully) bother itself with the science of how this all happened, instead focusing on the rather contrived manner in which four (well, sort of five bearing in mind the "surprise cameo") of the last humans meet up in search of various destinations of importance to them.
on the way to where they all wish to go there is of course meetings with zombies, and these are zombies which they dispense of with a reasonably wide variety of methods and weapons.
it's the meeting & beating of zombies that gives this film a strength and weakness, really. beyond the highly amusing opening to the film and inevitable big drama ending there's actually very little "zombie action" during the movie. on the one side this is an indicator of a "modest budget", but then again if the film had just been all guns blazing zombie-bashing it might have got rather tiresome and repetitive.
moving away from the lack of zombie fights, what it doesn't have in volume it certainly has in quality and style. "zombie kill of the week" is a recurring feature of the movie, and star of the show Woody Harrelson certainly has a few moments of magic. there might not be (disappointingly) a single on-screen chainsaw attack as hinted in the poster, but never mind - a banjo seems to work out nicely.
i couldn't really tell you the first thing about the director, writers or other cast members of this film, but as said the star of the show is most certainly dear old Woody Harrelson. it's rare that one sees a bad film with him in it, really, but this is the "high quality Woody" from Natural Born Killers and Wag The Dog i am happy to say. for many the true "star of the show" is the "surprise cameo" appearance by.....well, i won't say who. he does feature in the cast list on most sites and his appearance has been widely reported, but on the off chance you don't know and want to keep it a surprise, i shall remain silent.
Zombieland is a riotous, frenzied slice of 85 minute entertainment, loaded with highly quotable one-liners and several laugh out loud moments. it was made on a modest budget and didn't have its sights set on being a cinematic masterpiece, but it certainly exceeds its target of being solid fun viewing.
i note that the inevitable "Zombieland 2" has been announced, one can only hope it's a sequel that's an equal. if the scope is expanded a bit (i.e. the characters perhaps might want to flee zombie-infested America instead of simply heading to a funfair on the off-chance it is zombie free), who knows, it could surpass what we already have.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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