A lot of things can happen in 10 years, so consider then what can happen a decade after a zombie apocalypse has basically wiped out most of the human population who are struggling to survive. That, in a nutshell, is the premise behind the sequel Zombieland: Double Tap.
It’s been 10 years since the ragtag bunch of Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and siblings Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) joined forces after the world was run over by zombies. They tried to establish some form of domestic bliss with Tallahassee serving like a surrogate father to Little Rock while Columbus and Wichita are thinking about the next step in their relationship. Moving into the White House, things look perfectly fine on the outside, though Little Rock is beginning to find the need for more people her age, without Tallahassee being too overprotective
With Wichita aiming to support her sister while also trying to avoid Columbus’ desire for wedded bliss, the sisters leave the men behind and take their souped-up vehicle, The Beast. Columbus doesn’t take this lying down and pulls Tallahassee into looking for the women but not before bumping into the vapid blonde Madison (Zoey Deutch) inside a mall. Wichita ends up returning to the White House by herself to look for supplies and tells the men that Little Rock dumped her for the pacifist hippie Berkeley (Avan Jogia) and head for Elvis Presley’s home of Graceland.
Even as Wichita warns the men about stronger, more resilient zombies attacking, she finds out that Madison has slept with Columbus. Tallahassee gathers the troops to get into an RV and rescue Little Rock while making his own pilgrimage to Graceland only to find that the place has gone into disrepair. They end up at an Elvis-themed motel run by Nevada (Rosario Dawson) who tells the crew that Little Rock and Berkeley previously left for the hippie sanctuary known as Babylon. Can this group of misfits survive the updated Terminator-like zombies while still reuniting with the lost Little Rock?
Director Ruben Fleischer reunites with the foursome of Harrelson, Eisenberg, Stone, and Breslin in hopes of capturing the same magic that made the first Zombieland such a hit in 2009. The familiar elements are still there: the nervous narration by Eisenberg complete with his rules, the biting retorts and southern appeal of Harrelson, and the bad-ass survival instincts of Stone and Breslin. The chemistry between the four actors remains even as they’ve taken on different roles in their small family unit. Fleischer and writers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and David Callaham tore down the domestic bliss that the characters seemed to have found by focusing on both Little Rock’s no longer being a kid and Wichita’s anxiety over commitment.
Adding Deutch was a surprising move, but her dumb blonde shtick actually works as both a foil to Wichita and something to give Columbus back some of his lost swagger. It’s easy to imagine Deutch’s own mom, Lea Thompson, portraying the role if it had been done in the ’80s. Dawson, as expected, serves as a great counterpoint to Harrelson both age-wise and acting-wise. Nevada proves to be a formidable and strong woman, something Tallahassee can’t help but be attracted to. The short appearances of Luke Wilson as Albuquerque and Thomas Middleditch as Flagstaff, two virtual doppelgängers for Tallahassee and Columbus, though, feels a little too gimmicky and good for just a laugh or two.
The presence of Babylon, with its gun-melting pacifists that mirrors images of Woodstock and other hippie communes in the 60s was an idea that works in the face of the violence that the world has seemingly embraced in the wake of the zombies. The film’s climactic scene as the zombies attack, though bigger and clearly with a bigger budget than the original, doesn’t work quite as well as the amusement park did in 2009 though.
Zombieland: Double Tap is by no means a horrible movie. It just seems like it would have been better if it happened sooner, closer to the actual events in the 2009 film. It’s hard to believe that Columbus and Wichita wouldn’t think of getting married until 10 years after or that Little Rock waited a full decade, after going through puberty, to want to strike out on her own. Perhaps if everybody had found time in their busy schedules or had the script been done sooner, then Zombieland: Double Tap would have been a more enjoyable film to watch.
