Zombieland: Double Tap

This movie plays it safe and other than the characters being older, don't expect much variation. In a way it's a sympathetic approach, but it would have been even more sympathetic to me if I hadn't found the last film to be an altogether entertaining but also contradictory spectacle that I just couldn't miss. The second Zombieland is better perhaps only in that the vast majority of the most rewarding humor this time rests on the shoulders of Woody Harrelson, who is simply brilliant, and newcomer Zoey Deutch, who wraps everyone around her finger with her endearing portrayal of a less than bright girl. It's the other characters' clashes with her way of "thinking" that entertained me the most (along with the final credits). Not the mashing of the undead with combines and the tired,obligatory finale, nor the hackneyed romance with its predictable conclusion, and certainly not the whole part with Luke Wilson, which was a few completely tone-deaf minutes and a bore to watch. (10/25/2019)

The four heroes are back, still killing man-eating monsters and still trying not to kill each other. But now one of the girls has disappeared and the rest must find her and possibly save her. And as they make their way across zombie-infested America, they encounter not only the undead, but also other survivors, Elvis and hippies. The sequel to Zombieland could be considered a carbon copy of the first one, as it doesn't bring much new stuff, but it's still just as fun and if you enjoyed the disposal of the undead and the antics of the survivors last time, the second one won't disappoint. (12/26/2019)

To my own surprise, the sequel after six years was even more fun than the first installment. The plot seemed more coherent, I also liked the calmer part in the White House and I was pleased that the authors cast Zoey Deutch and Rosario Dawson. Oddly enough, I didn't even mind that it was a blatant rip-off of the 2013 film, some scenes almost a carbon copy of the original idea. (03/05/2020)

A complete sandbox of random episodes and situations spliced together with running jokes and quirky characters. It's horribly shot (the camera for the most part never goes beyond the foreground), poorly edited, and with incredibly lazy and cheap CGI (even the dead bodies by the roads are digitally added), but the whole thing is pulled off by the foursome of Harrelson, Stone, Breslin and Deutch (!!!) who are just a joy to watch as they shamelessly cow in front of the camera. Thankfully, the film doesn't irritate with confused episodicity, as it never once attempts any coherence throughout. It's very likely that with a different cast it would have been intolerable. Interestingly, the "geek" character of Jesse Eisenberg is the one who has least survived the decade-long outage, who with his neurotic pop culture references, is fit only to be thrown over the walls to be torn apart and eaten by the plebes from among Big Bang Theory fans. (01/22/2020)

The same thing as the first one, really. An entertaining premise and a couple of good formal ideas elaborated into the rumble of the four (five) likeable characters that doesn’t result in anything original. The great cast carry the film on their shoulders again, Flescher adds a few functional ideas, plus a couple of cameos to make things more interesting, and the viewer can kick-back and relax. And even though neither the characters nor the world go anywhere in the end, it’s impossible not to acknowledge that this innocent zombie silliness works surprisingly well – and like the previous, it deserves a strong 3*. (12/24/2019)