Movie review: ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’

Sequels are always difficult. For the few worth watching, they extended the original story very well with creative writing and acting. Sadly, for most, they are nothing but someone’s attempt to cash in on a title that made money years ago. So, I anticipated “Zombieland: Double Tap” with mixed feelings: I loved the original and hoped the sequel would be worthy. Well, wait no more for my review … “Double Tap” is worthy. It’s not as good as the original, but it comes close. Get out there and watch it if you liked the original. “Double Tap” is worth your time and money. BTW … hang around for the credits … you’ll get an unexpected star zombie and a few kills from a major star from the original film.

‘Zombieland: Double Tap’
(2019; 99 minutes; rated R; directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin)

‘DOUBLE TAP’ IS A NEAT EXTENSION OF ORIGINAL

(NOTE: I updated this review on Jan. 22, 2020, with the final box-office totals for the film and tweaking a few notes. I also updated the links.)

I’m glad that “Zombieland: Double Tap” is a worthy sequel. Duh. Of course, who would have wanted a crappy one? However, there are many more bad sequels than good – just look at the good with “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (click here for my review) or “Jurassic World” (click here for my review) or the bad with the execrable “CHIPS” (click here for my review) or one of the worst-ever with “Jaws: The Revenge” (click here for my review).

(CLICK HERE FOR ALL MY MOVIE REVIEWS)

If you like horror, then I’m sure you remember “Zombieland” from 2009 (click here for my review). It extended the zombie franchise from “Shaun of the Dead” in 2004 (click here for my review) and was a year before TV’s “The Walking Dead.” It was clever, funny, gory and violent to the extreme and unabashedly watchable with one of cinema’s great cameos from Bill Murray, who dressed as a zombie so he could go out and “mingle.”

And so, the sequels to the sequel or sequels to a “reboot” come into their own. “Jumanji: The Next Level” is great (click here for my review), while “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” turned out to be crap perpetrated to generate some box office bucks and prove an embarrassment to the sequel (click here for my review).

Move forward to October 2019 and I was holding my breath. I don’t follow the “trades” as they used to be called, so I didn’t know what to expect from “Double Tap.” What I found was refreshing – a nice updating of the story with just the right amount of homage to the original and then creative ways to update a story that could all too easily have fallen into mediocrity. “Double Tap” takes place a decade from the original, mainly because Breslin went from being 13 in the first to 23 in the sequel and it would be difficult to disguise a woman as a teenager in this context.

In short, the original group from “Zombieland” makes their way to and comes to make their home in the White House. Two characters, Jesse Eisenberg as “Columbus” and Emma Stone as “Wichita” (remember, the characters’ names are the cities where they were trying to reach after the zombie apocalypse arrived) are somewhat domesticated and the other two have a somewhat off-kilter father-daughter relationship between Woody Harrelson as “Tallahassee” (they had to pick the septic tank city of my home state, didn’t they?) and Abigail Breslin as “Little Rock.”

Of course, conflict rears its ugly countenance in “Double Tap.” At the same time Eisenberg and Stone are having their relationship spin out of control, Breslin experiences the desperate need to find age-appropriate companionship. Both split from Eisenberg and Harrelson – and they did this in the original – but Stone returns after Breslin ditches her in turn. Sigh. If families could only stay together!

Well, of course, there’s a twist. While the female half of the family took off (Stone trying to find Breslin, who ran away), Eisenberg and Harrelson came across a vacuous young woman called “Madison” played by Zoey Deutch, who was living in a mall’s refrigerator (zombies, like retirees in the north, don’t like the cold). Deutch is Valley Girl-vacant and it takes her and Eisenberg about 10 seconds to jump into bed. Then, ta-da! … Stone somewhat unexpectedly reappears and more conflict ensues.

I won’t spoil any of the details of the twists and turns of “Double Tap,” but the group goes to find Breslin, who has herself hooked up with a space-cadet pacifist named “Berkeley,” who is played by Avan Jogia. He pretends to “write” songs made famous by folks such as Bob Dylan, but he has a lot of weed and Breslin is ready for his ride. There’s another twist involving a vehicle with a clown’s head on top, but I’ll leave that to experience for yourself.

To find Breslin, the first target area is Elvis’ Graceland since she wanted to visit it. Well, Graceland is found, but nearby the group will find like-minded souls in “Nevada,” who is living in a museum to The King and is played by Rosario Dawson and “Albuquerque” and “Flagstaff” played respectively by the wonderful Luke Wilson and the underappreciated Thomas Middleditch, who you best remember from Verizon TV ads. They are the twins of Harrelson and Eisenberg, but the pair manages to come to a grisly and untimely fate, which is unfortunate since they would have made great companions moving forward – especially in another sequel.

The group winds up in the nirvana called “Babylon,” but you know it’s not gonna last. It doesn’t and a major war with “evolved” zombies ensues before the good guys and girls live happily ever after … until the next sequel.

All-in-all, a good zombie tale told.

Now, let me look at the key players from the original. I’m not going to go all-in on their CVs since you know them already …

• I’m no fan of Harrelson and it’s disappointing that such an acting hack has been nominated for three Oscars (most recently in 2018). I will write, though, that he certainly does a great job as zombie killer extraordinaire “Tallahassee” (especially since that city exemplifies the slime represented by Harrelson). Woody extends his character very well from the first sequel and there’s nothing disappointing in his effort in this one. As for the rest of his career … ah, I really don’t care.
• An Oscar and Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Eisenberg again does the pedantic thing well as he defined his character in the original. However, it’s somewhat disappointing that he didn’t manage to expand the character to make it stand out. After setting the tone in the original, he had a chance to make “Columbus” into something more … but, he didn’t. Oh, well. Jesse was nominated for “The Social Network.”
• Of course, Oscar winner and two-time nominee (not for this one), Emma turns out her usual superlative effort. Like all the headliners, Stone puts oomph into her character and manages to give a truly solid performance in a horror film – and that’s not something that is very common. Obviously, she is an exceptionally accomplished actor. The best thing about her performance is that she does it all: Emotion, a glance and her physical acting and timing. Whomever cast her in the original needs a High-Five Double Tap! Stone won her Oscar for “La La Land” and was nominated for “The Favourite” and “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).”
• An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Breslin is all grown up in “Double Tap.” Her character is feeling a need to expand her horizons and conveys this emotion very well. Breslin knows how to manage herself in a scene without trying to overpower it and crafts yet another great slice of work. Breslin should have gotten more screen time, but she was saddled with a milquetoast, stereotyped “friend” and it could have been served up different and better for her acting skills. She was nominated for “Little Miss Sunshine” and was also in “Freak Show” and the TV movie remake of “Dirty Dancing.”

The best thing about “Double Tap” is that it manages to introduce new and interesting characters. It’s too bad that two of them don’t last very long. First, though, let’s take a look at two new characters who might find their way into another sequel …

• The best new character is “Madison” played by Deutch, who is a relative Hollywood newcomer with 27 credits at the time of the release of “Double Tap” (and one is a pre-production effort). Deutch, who gets excellent screen time, plays the Valley Girl persona to the max and while not reaching the same status in your eyes at the headliners, she does do a solid job and you’ll remember her after you leave the theater. Deutch has been in “Set it Up” and TV’s “The Politician” and her first credit was on an episode of TV’s “NCIS” in 2011.
• If any actor could give a “quiet” performance in a zombie movie, then Dawson as “Nevada” is the one. Her character is the only one with a state name and not a city and she easily shows why her character is somewhat aloof from the rest. Dawson is smooth, cool and deadly when she needs to be. Her work here is a quiet tour-de-force … well, as much of a tour-de-force as you can find in a zombie movie. Dawson has been in “Eagle Eye” and “Rent” and has notched an impressive 100+ acting credits in a career spanning three decades – from the first credit in 1995.

** SPOILER ALERT **

I find myself compelled to write about two doomed characters who would have helped make another sequel even better … and so, I guess, this is somewhat of a spoiler. You get to meet the mirror image of both Woody and Jesse in the form of Wilson and Middleditch. I would have liked to have seen much more of both! So, here’s my look at them …

• Wilson has great comedic chops, but he just plays the mirror image of supreme zombie killer Harrelson here. He doesn’t break new ground, but he does manage to slightly elevate having to play the game of saying the same things that Woody’s character does. It would have been nice to see more of Wilson, but, that was the filmmakers’ call. He was in “Old School” and “Idiocracy” as well as “Bottle Rocket” as well as “Blades of Glory” and “Scream 2.”
• Lost amid the cast is Middleditch. His character is the mirror of Eisenberg’s “Columbus” and he does an adequate job with the role. There really isn’t much to work with for Middleditch, but he doesn’t offend and doesn’t need help holding up his end in any scene. Although he’s most recognized from cell phone ads, Middleditch has been in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for “Silicon Valley.”

As for the rest of the supporting cast … well, they do a good job, but their work isn’t worth mentioning in this review, other than Victor Rivera, who plays “Civil War Bearded Guy.” Rivera doesn’t do much except answer “group sex” several times when asked his opinion about what everyone should do. It’s not a great bit part, but he does get the laughs (at least from me), even when Harrelson tells him he’ll be the “first one to go” when the zombies come calling.

Although some critics derided the use of signature items from the original (“It’s time to nut up or shut up” is Harrelson’s key phrase in this one, too), director Reuben Fleisher does a bang-up job of balancing what needs to be an homage and the new material. That wasn’t easy and anyone who criticizes the blasts-from-the-past simply are off-target.

It couldn’t have been an easy job, since I’d say I’d say Fleisher managed to balance perfectly the past and present in the film.

Finally, I will note that there is one totally graphic scene that should have been cut. Yes, I know this is a flesh-eating zombie film with violence and profanity, but when Woody kills one of the evolved super-zombies with a head-stomp, it went a bit too far. Ruben, you could have done without this one.

** ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT **

It will come as no surprise that there’s a big spoiler alert and it’s not that a headliner dies. It’s that, at the end (when some have already left the theater), Bill Murray is back with a flashback in which – get this! – TV personality Al Roker is interviewing him, turns into a zombie and has his head bashed in by Bill! Murray then goes on to hammer out a bunch of zombies as the credits get ready to roll. Both Murray and Roker do great jobs in their cameos – but, I must write that Murray was totally better in the original.

So, there you have it. You need to see “Double Tap” if you even slightly enjoyed the original.

As of the posting date of this review (Oct. 27, 2019), “Zombieland: Double Tap” was the No. 53 film at U.S. theaters with $35.4 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The No. 1 film was “Avengers: Endgame” with $858.3 million and No. 2 was the new version of “The Lion King” with $543 million. Walt Disney Studios had the top four films on Oct. 27, 2019, and those films had hauled in more than $2.2 billion in U.S. ticket sales. NOTE: “Zombieland: Double Tap” was the 40^th ranked film at U.S. theaters in 2019 with a final tally of $72.9 million in ticket sales. Here are the other films from 2019 that I’ve reviewed:

• “Ford v Ferrari” (great drama) – click here for my review
• “Good Boys” (mediocre R-comedy) – click here for my review
• “Jumanji: The Next Level” (another solid sequel) – Click here for my review
• “Knives Out” (waste of talent) – click here for my review
• “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (great Tarantino) – click here for my review

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

• Harrelson performed the Elvis song “Burning Love” that is used on the “Double Tap” soundtrack.
• Things do change in drafts of the screenplay. For example, the scene where the group fights off zombies before getting into an RV was originally the final scene (similar to the “last stand” for Woody in an amusement park in the original), but ultimately turned out to come in the middle.
• Directly from IMDb.com: “This will be the first Zombieland movie to be filmed in Panavision (anamorphic) with ARRI Alexa cameras, unlike its predecessor which was filmed spherically with Panavision Genesis cameras in the Super 35 format.”
• Harrelson also worked with Fleisher on “Venom.”
• Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Rumored titles for the film included Zombieland 2, Zombieworld, and Zombieland: Double Tap. On January 29, 2019, the film was confirmed to be titled the latter, which is a reference to rule #2 in Zombieland (2009).”

© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples, 2019, 2020.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that
full and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.