Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
In 2009, cinema audiences were treated to Zombieland, the best zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead. A decade later, and Zombieland: Double Tap has finally been released with a return of the full cast. Directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and David Callaham, Double Tap stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin, with cameo appearances from Bill Murray and Luke Wilson, among others.
With the same main cast, writers, and director, Double Tap manages to pull off a very similar tone to its predecessor, the story following a very similar plot as our team of protagonists find themselves in a Guardian of the Galaxy Vol.2 situation; the resolution found at the end of the first film has been rewound and needs to be completed again. Thematically speaking, Double Tap looks at how each character defines themselves in relation to the concept of family.
The script is clearly not the strong point of the film, with a simple premise that we have all seen before (in fact we saw it ten years ago in the first Zombieland film), that also takes a leaf out of The Walking Dead's books and places much more emphasis on a love triangle, than on the threat of the zombie apocalypse. The dangers of the zombies have evolved, mind you, and are revealed in a fun fashion, incorporating pop culture references into the story at every opportunity. Unfortunately, this variety and evolution add little to the overall content of the film.
The simple narrative direction is mirrored by the basic interactions between characters that make the film predictable thanks to some obvious setups. While admittedly, the story is weak, it is more than made up for in the comedic content. There are many laughs to be had, from political to awkward, sexist, physical, and even sexual humour, there is something to appeal to everyone. The one downside to the style of comedy is that it is largely through pop culture references, which gives the film only a short period of time before the references make it feel dated.
In amongst the references, you can see the influences that other zombie films have had on the creation of Double Tap, with the strongest resemblances to George A, Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead, but with nods to World War Z and Resident Evil as well. The cinematography from Chung Chung-hoon is satisfactory, with only one real stand-out action sequence that looks almost like a single, uncut shot as we watch two separate fights being carried out simultaneously.
The action is still really fun to watch, and while there are minimal practical effects, there is still a reasonable amount of gore on display that will keep horror fans appeased. Thanks to the amount of focus on male-female relationships, there are fewer action sequences in the film, with four significant sequences in the films 93-minute runtime. There was a concern when the first trailer was released that the pacing of the film would be affected by the overuse of slow motion. The majority of this occurs in the opening scenes, however, and does not readily affect the rest of the film.
Double Tap doesn't have quite the same spark that the original film had, but much like Deadpool 2, it still managed to put forward a competent film that made the audience belly-laugh frequently throughout the film. Combine that with a soundtrack that rock listeners will love, and what are potentially the funniest mid and end credits scenes in a film to date, Zombieland: Double Tap is a must-see.
Zombieland: Double Tap is in cinemas October 17, 2019