Zombieland

The brilliant British Shaun of the Dead remains unsurpassed. However, Zombieland can be described as a pleasantly silly and at the same time mainly entertaining film with a reasonable runtime, which has good ideas and is adorned with the excellent (certainly not small) role of Bill Murray. However, the traditionally unsympathetic Eisenberg deserves to be eaten and spat out in the first minute. (04/09/2011)

Because it lacks a more robust framework, Zombieland starts and ends out of nowhere. But the characters are likeable and well directed, and the movie uses some very effective slow-motion shots. This is a pleasant chill-out movie, but Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead was bolder and more brutal, which pays off in the zombie sub-genre. (12/14/2009)

Likeable main protagonists, a ton of laughs and eye-candy slow motion splattering blood. What more could one ask for? Woody Harrelson is awesome and Jesse Eisenberg was a very pleasant surprise. The zombies here aren’t spooky, so no horror, but maybe comedy of the year. You must learn to appreciate the simple things in life. (12/01/2009)

While I understand the overseas acclaim, I refuse to join in. In fact, Zombieland runs at about half throttle when it could easily push the pedal through the floor for 85 minutes. Ideas from the black humor barrel are piled on during the opening credits meaning that essentially nothing happens for an hour, and then they arrive at B. M. and then at the amusement park. Every now and then pop culture is mentioned (Facebook, actors, movies), and sometimes it switches to video game mode (the roller coaster ride is a "Painkiller" DLC), but rarely does something ball-busting pop up that would stay in my mind forever and make me want to watch this again... for that, all I need is the trailer. PS: Woody Harrelson is one of the absolute best guys of the year, no question about it. (11/03/2009)

I confess that despite the excellent responses, I didn’t believe in Zombieland, at all. The trailer didn’t interest me in the slightest and given how much I (didn’t) like that other highly praised zombie comedy (Shawn of the Dead), I expected 80 minutes of boredom and suffering. Fortunately, the heroes of Zombieland are a lot more likeable than the gang around Simon Pegg. Where I fundamentally disagree with most other reviewers is in my opinion about the course of the film. I consider the beginning as the weakest part (those first fifteen minutes made me fear a new Shawn, with the corresponding two stars), the quiet moments in the middle (the interactions of the characters) as the best, and the action-packed climax as a fun end to the ride. BM’s cameo was awesome! (11/04/2009)