Review of Zombieland (2009) by Chads. — 02 Oct 2009

If the best thing about "Zombieland" was the zombies, and the gross-out factor of the cannibalism practiced by the walking dead, this latest entry in the horror subgenre(popularized by George Romero), would be just another ripoff, another brainless brain-eating spectacle.

Billed as a comedy, thankfully, the laughs that this rollicking film generates aren't always edgy laughs, an audience's audible stamp of approval emanated out from violent situations, a nihilistic nonchalance over the loss of human(and zombie) life.

Although there is some of that, conveyed through the hero's list of rules for survival(during the title sequence), "Zombieland" settles down after it sheds the requisite amount of gore to meet the genre minimum, and achieves transcendency(read: a zombie film for non-zombie fans) from its wide-ranging efforts.

That's because a lot of the laughs derive from recognizable human interaction. Anchored by, holy mad cow, an interesting lead, the aptly named Columbus(because this Internet explorer discovers America) nearly relegates the zombies to the sidelines.

Columbus discovers people: Tallahassee(Woody Harrelson), Wichita(Emma Stone), and Little Rock(Abigail Breslin); he discovers love(Wichita). One more film with the suffix "-land" in it(the first wasGreg Mottolla's "Adventureland"), and Eisenberg will have completed a coming-of-age trilogy.

In those opening moments of "Zombieland", Columbus shows us the ill effects that stem from his reclusive conduct, as he narrates dispassionately about the fallibility of man(too fat, too stingy, too careless) while being victimized by a predatory evil dead onslaught.

Late in the film, Columbus comes of age when he learns the value of human life, and amends the "don't be a hero" rule by becoming one. This is the most humane zombie movie ever made.