Zombieland: Double Tap
review by Bobby Blakey
Back in 2009 one of the big surprise hits was the zombie action comedy Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abagail Breslin and Jesse Eisenberg. Since its success we have been hearing about a coming sequel and now finally it’s here to unleash more zombie killing fun with all new additions to the cast including Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, Zoey Deutch, and Avan Jogia. Can this new entry live up to the original or is it not worth returning to Zombieland for more family time with the undead?
Zombieland: Double Tap follows Columbus, Tallahasse, Wichita, and Little Rock who move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family. Right out of the gate you know you are back in the land of the undead with a hilarious twist to the studio logo and then right into some action. Despite being 10 years since the previous entry they dive right back in like they never left bringing all the laughs, killing and dysfunctional family values that fans love.
I know some compare the opening credits here to Deadpool, but you have to remember that the original film did it very similar prior to that and with the same team it is no surprise. Both films nail it to perfection with this outing bringing the metal fun with Metallica’s Master of Puppets playing to bring the audience right into the action. The story here is pretty simple, keeping everything we loved about the first one intact while bringing in some new blood to take it in some new directions. All the cast is great, but have to admit that Zoey Deutch’s over the top blond valley girl is the funniest of them all. I can see how some can get annoyed with here, but that is kind of the point and works great.
I was surprised with the direction of these new characters as they weren’t all as
important to the bigger aspect of the story as I had thought they would be. Make no mistake they all still offer up some big laughs and great zombie killing fun just in a different way than expected. In relation to the zombie kills there is no shortage of them in all sorts of new ways that bring the blood spraying fun to the forefront as well as some new directions with the zombies themselves.
In the end I think I had just as much fun with this one as the first film. Sure the bigger appeal to the original was not knowing what we were going to get, but here it feels like they expanded their story in a great direction and kept up the same fun direction of it all and I hope we get to take another trip to Zombieland a lot sooner than later. Be sure to stay through the credits as there is a great mid-credit and end credit sequence that will no doubt have fans cheering and laughing out loud.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including alternate & extended scenes, alternate & deleted scenes, numerous featurettes and so much more. Return to the zombie apocalypse when Zombieland: Double Tap available now on digital, 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Home Entertainment.
