Zombieland

Debuting at no. 1 in the U.S. box office, and with the biggest opening weekend of any of Woody Harrelson’s films to date, Zombieland is America’s answer to Shaun of the Dead (2004). And that’s not just a lazy and obvious comparison; director Ruben Fleischer has admitted that his inspiration for making the film was Pegg and Wright’s rom-zom-com.

While there are many similarities, however, the two films are tonally and culturally very different, highlighting the differences between the British and American mentality. Pegg and Wright chose to focus on the small scale, as their characters headed towards that most British of institutions, the local pub. In Zombieland, the main quartet embarks on a cross-country road-trip to California in the direction of a theme park. It’s just a different mindset.

We begin with various styles of camerawork, and some explicit gore, to assault our senses. The first handheld shot soon switches to a sweeping computerised image of a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by a disease that turns people into zombies. Then as we are introduced to our narrator Columbus Ohio (Jesse Eisenberg), his commentary is accompanied by some rather funky graphics outlining his rules for survival, which bring out the comedy in scenes such as him being chased by some very grotesque zombies. Pleasingly the narration continues throughout, as do the animated rules, maintaining a consistency that very few films with narrators manage.

Eisenberg, who has moved from the much safer Adventureland (2009) to Zombieland, is emerging as the new Michael Cera, which is no bad thing. His character is the nerdy, loner, neurotic type that one would most associate with Cera, but Eisenberg can combine this with gun-toting action sequences. Eisenberg’s neurotic loner (pulling a wheely suitcase through the devastation) meets Harrelson’s misanthropic loner who just wants to kill zombies and find a Twinkie (rather than being a euphemism, it’s a well-loved American confectionary). While these two characters may be clichéd – nerdy recluse who everyone finds annoying at first but eventually comes to appreciate, teamed with grumpy cowboy who really has a heart of gold – Eisenberg and Harrelson’s chemistry make it a convincing double-act.

Along the way they run into two sisters – Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin - who are themselves fighting for survival. The girls also get a chance to kick ass in this film, though with slightly disturbing overtones because it’s Little Miss Sunshine with a gun (“All those violent video games”). This mismatched group’s journey to the West Coast is peppered with flashbacks and random montages, such as the quartet’s destruction of a Native American souvenir shop as their way of letting off steam, accompanied by a surreal cameo by Bill Murray as himself.

While you’ll probably be able to see the ending coming, the journey there is no less enjoyable. Fleischer manages to mix character drama, comedy and some genuine scares, all with some modern pop-culture references thrown in. The setting may not feel as ‘realistic’ as Shaun of the Dead, excepting the zombies of course, but Zombieland works well as its American companion, and they will sit nicely together on the DVD shelf.

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