Zombieland: Double Tap Review
Zombieland: Double Tap is the long-awaited sequel to Zombieland which was released in 2009. The cast remained the same and the film picked up where Columbus (Jesse Eisenburg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) left off, travelling the post-apocalyptic American wasteland. The trailer did reveal some new characters as well. Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch and Columbus and Tallahassee's "doppelgängers", Luke Wilson, and Thomas Middleditch, all joined the cast for Double Tap. Rumor has it, Bill Murray is set to make his return after tragically dying in the first one.
Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), Wichita (Emma Stone), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg)
Reception
Before the movie was officially released there were some very positive early reactions. Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com said, “Zombieland: Double Tap is like a time machine to 2009. I loved it. If you loved the first movie, you’ll love this one. It’s hilarious.” It also seems like the film is much more comedic than the first Zombieland as many have reported. Clearly, the main cast still has the same bonds 10 years later to still be producing great, funny content. Big movie review websites such as IGN and Screen Rant have headlined, “Double Tap social media reactions are very positive.”
After the debut, there were many positive ratings, 90% of Google users liked the movie, IMDb gave the film a 7.2/10, and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a solid 68%. There was also some negative feedback on the movie as well. The constant problem people commented on were the repetitiveness of the movie. Michael O’Sullivan of the Washington Post said, “There’s a repetitive but not necessarily redundant quality to Zombieland 2.” Johnson Thomas of the Mid-Day also said, “Double Tap is funny, but there's also a torrent of dialogue - some of which the film could well have done without.” In many of the negative reviews there is also something positive to go along with it which goes a long way in showing that the movie is an all-around solid film.
Zombieland: Double Tap comes in at No. 9 in the most recent box office ratings after this past weekend. The movie made $4,315,000 over the weekend putting its total gross to $66,655,483.
The Crusader’s Take
The original Zombieland is one of my favorite movies, so I went into Zombieland: Double Tap thinking there was no way it could live up to the first. The sequel proved me wrong, and I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was a great sequel to the original ten years ago. The movie was very comical and of course, action packed. I loved being able to refer to the first movie on how the characters acted in certain situations. For example, it was evident in the first film that Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) was deathly afraid of clowns. This film does a great job of incorporating that multiple times throughout the movie forcing the group to adapt. The star-studded cast made the film much more enjoyable and the plot was fantastic.
The crew riding scooters through the White House
The film picked up where they left off in 2009, on their way to Washington D.C. Once they settled in, Wichita broke the news to the gang that Little Rock has left with a boy from California that she met. Throughout the rest of the movie it shows their journey to retrieve Little Rock and they meet many people along the way and face some challenges here and there. One of my favorite parts of the plot was the Super Zombies, or the “T-800” zombies. These zombies took multiple shots to kill and caused the group to change their method of fighting the zombies and also caused them to change course in where they travel. They knew that there was a hoard of super zombies moving east towards them which caused for both moments of comedy and sheer panic.
Although I enjoyed many parts of the movie, there were some aspects of the movie I didn’t like. The movie was relatively short at 99 minutes, but at times there was excessive dialogue, which caused it to feel a little slow. Another part was that the some of the jokes were pretty cheesy. I didn’t mind it too much, but I could definitely see it getting annoying and somewhat repetitive. I do promise you that Woody Harrelson makes up for it though with some hilarious moments.
Final Thoughts
All around, this was a solid film, and you couldn’t ask much more of a sequel. If you enjoyed Zombieland then you will enjoy Zombieland: Double Tap as well. Be prepared to spend your night bursting out with laughter and on the edge of your seat while watching the cast take on this new, yet familiar, version of a post-apocalyptic world.