Zombieland: MSN Review

 

Zombieland sets its stall out early and simply. Earth has been taken over by a zombie virus, leaving only a few hardy souls struggling to survive without being eaten by the hordes of ravenous cannibals that lurk round every corner. One of the former is Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus, a nerdy coward who has developed a number of hard and fast rules that allow him to avoid becoming some slavering monster’s dinner.

 

 

Most are pretty straightforward: stay fit, travel light and always “double tap” zombies to make sure they don’t keep on coming. Others, though, are a little quirkier: wearing a seatbelt, for instance, or avoiding public bathrooms lest you literally get caught with your pants down.

 

Unfortunately, Columbus does not have a rule for Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun-toting redneck who has devoted himself to slaying every pus-oozing zombie that stands between him and the last Twinkie bar on earth. If our hero had any sense he’d stay away from this lunatic as if his life depended on it. Instead they form an uneasy alliance which swells further once they meet Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) – two sisters set on reaching a supposedly undead-free amusement park in distant California.

 

With zombies being shot, run over, pummelled and dismembered at every turn, there is more than enough carnage here to satisfy the most hardened George A Romero fan. Where Zombieland really comes up trumps, though, is in the comic beats between the kills, director Ruben Fleischer giving his talented cast plenty of room to riff, play off each other and act the fool. One priceless exchange sees Breslin endeavour to explain the subtleties of Hannah Montana to Harrelson’s bewildered cowboy, while there is a delicious cameo from a comedy veteran that is so unexpected it’s practically surreal.