Zombieland features a world in which a virus - with its base in Mad Cow Disease - has developed and infected almost the entire human population. As a result, the human race has become an aggressive, flesh-eating, zombie-like force. Few humans survive.
Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland) stars, along with Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. Eisenberg plays Columbus (named after his desired destination), a phobia-ridden, awkward social outcast, who has survived through a self-designed list of rules. These include Cardio (in order to outrun the unusually swift zombies), The Double Tap (in which no chances are taken, and any zombie is shot twice just to make sure), and Fasten Your Seatbelt (which is demonstrated to zombie-killing effect).
Columbus meets Harrelson, who introduces himself as Tallahassee, and despite their chalk-and-cheese personalities Tallahassee agrees to take Columbus some of the way towards his destination. Along the way they meet sisters Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin), and eventually join the girls on their quest to reach Pacific Playland in California.
Zombie Comedy
Fleischer's first major directorial effort, Zombieland is in very little way a zombie movie - the zombies themselves are not the traditional slow-moving, lumbering undead normally seen on film, but fast moving and aggressive - and in fact plays more like a buddy comedy.
Unlike fellow 'zombie comedy' Shaun Of The Dead (2004), which produced a lot of its laughs by riffing on the zombie film genre, Zombieland gains most of its comedy from pop culture references and the successful interplay between Eisenberg and Harrelson.
Columbus provides a voiceover for the film, which for the bulk of the film reflects the one or two word thought eruptions seen in the television comedy Peep Show. Allied with a frenetic visual style, which makes use of text and slow motion to effect degrees, Fleischer uses all the tools available to him as a filmmaker to increase the avenues in which to create comedy.
Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Columbus is full of awkward body language, stilted sentences, and a vast array of intriguing phobias. The vulnerability which Eisenberg conveys helps create a sympathetic lead, and Fleischer cleverly holds back from ever turning the character in to a full-blown hero. Even when Columbus does try and step up towards the end of the film, his voiceover assures us that it is only to save the pretty girl.
Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee is a somewhat exaggerated version of his performance in Natural Born Killers (1994), a gun-toting, living life to the extreme kind-of-a-guy. Tallahassee's main focus on life in Zombieland is to find a Twinkie, and he goes to great lengths - and great emotional distress - to achieve this aim. Tallahassee's action-packed demeanour results in many inventive zombie killings, and he takes on a group towards the end of the film in a scene which would have found a place in any number of 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger films.
Despite not receiving as great an amount of material and screen time as Harrelson and Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin more than capably fulfil their roles. Stone (Superbad) is detached and alluring, whilst able to drop her moody demeanour effectively. Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) manages to show some detachment as well, before expressing a sweet child-like wonder upon arrival at Pacific Playland.
The Bill Murray Zombieland Cameo
Zombieland has proven a surprise hit, and created a great deal of positive feedback for Fleischer and his cast. Chief among the good reviews has been a cameo from Bill Murray, which proves one of the film's highlights, and a triumphant return to comedic form for Murray, more recently seen demonstrating his dramatic muscles in the likes of Lost In Translation (2003).
Some of Zombieland's appeal comes from its unexpectedness. The media campaign suggested something funny, but not to the extent the film turns out to be. Harrelson, aside from Murray, is also at his funniest level since Cheers, and the rest of the cast prove to be rising stars. The visual flair proves another surprise, as Fleischer shows no rookie nerves. Although disjointed at times, Zombieland overall has such verve that any narrative defects are quickly forgotten about as a witty new line or elaborate zombie killing refocuses attention, and continues the audience's enjoyment.
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