Did Zombieland really need a sequel? Probably not. While it has acquired a small cult status since its release, the comedy was always more of a sleeper hit. The sequel brings back almost everyone from the original film, including writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and director Ruben Fleischer.
While the first film had an arc of four people coming together and forming a family, there’s no such straight arc for the second film, which is more of a hodgepodge of moments ans characters. Still, it’s almost as entertaining as the original, and the cast seem to be having a good time together.
Picking up ten years after the original, the film starts with the gang setting up shop at the White House. When Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) proposes to Wichita (Emma Stone), Wichita bails on them with her sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Columbus and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) soon run into another survivor, Madison (Zoey Dutch), and then before they know it, they end joining Wichita on a road trip to save Little Rock, who has run away with a new pacifist stoner boyfriend, Berkeley (Avan Jogia). And then they run into a strain of tougher, harder to kill zombies they soon dub as T-800s.
The pacing is breezing, especially because most of the cast is in their comfort zones. This is basically a road trip movie with zombies sprinkled in.
The main cast are solid, but it’s Zoey Deutch who steals the film as Madison. She infuses her own brand of comedy into a tired, hackneyed stereotype and makes it work. There’s also Rosario Dawson as Nevada, who Tallahassee soon finds a connection with, and Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch as Albuquerque and Flagstaff, doppelgangers to the main trio. They aren’t in the film for long, but their inclusions pad out the film’s runtime (and humor quotient).
Like Zombieland, this film isn’t out to change the world. It puts the cast first and introduces the characters to a variety of situations to see how they react. Tallahassee, for instance, has to control his overbearing paternal instincts when he’s around Little Rock and Berkeley, and Columbus and Wichita mostly ignore their relationship fallout (although Wichita throws more than a couple of snide shots at Columbus for moving on so fast). Little Rock is enamoured by Berkeley’s guitar (and his lyrics) and is delighted when he brings out a bag of weed. The franchise’s 2009 brand of humor is mostly intact, and that makes the film feel more quaint compared to other films currently in theaters.
The film’s climax does feel a little tacked on, but it’s enjoyable and flashy in a way that hearkens back to the original film’s ending. While the first film’s finale took place in an amusement park, the second film’s climax takes place in an even more outlandish location: Babylon, a hippie commune that doesn’t allow guns inside its walls. What do they do with their guns, you ask? Well, they melt them down into peace symbol amulets.
In the end, Zombieland: Double Tap is mostly more of the same.
If that doesn’t entice you, feel free to skip this one and watch the current season of The Walking Dead instead. If you loved the first film though, you can’t go wrong with this one. It’s the movie equivalent of a medium sized Coke: pleasantly enjoyable, doesn’t last long and makes you feel gassy at the end. Not the most healthiest choice you could make, but it’s exactly what it says on the can.