POINT/COUNTERPOINT: ZOMBIELAND

Zombieland

***1/2

Review by Justin Bowler, Living Film Critic

“Zombieland” is such a fantastic ride, it is hard to find fault with it. The first five minutes with the opening sequence and credits set up the exact style of this film. You know right off the bat that it’s funny, quirky, scary, gory, and a new bend on an old idea. It is a wonderful black comedy, so much so, that you will be hard pressed to predict moment after moment.

Seldom is violence so entertaining. Other than Nazis, zombies are the perfect enemy. They live, only to kill, completely devoid of any positive trait. So, watching shot after shot of zombies getting their comeuppance is satisfying on a colossal scale. The main characters (played by Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) are constantly finding new ways to kill, dismember, squash, and destroy zombies. And watching it done has never been so enjoyable. Sure, at times the violence is for comedic effect, but elsewhere in the film it is used as a release from a genuinely tense chase scene.

Furthermore, this means the movie is genuinely scary. This is not just a hack remake of the same thing we have seen a thousand times before. This is fully new and inventive. From moments full of heart pounding tension to moments that make you jump, the movie does not disappoint. There were several audible gasps, screams, and guffaws from the audience throughout the film.

Also, seldom do you find a touching love story in a zombie movie. Since, zombies, by their very nature are thoughtless, irrational creatures that are void of any emotion other than rage; you would not expect any hint of a romantic storyline. Furthermore, most zombie movies are hell bent on inspiring fear. So, to find an emotion connected to a zombie film that is even remotely connected to an inspiring heartfelt one is almost absurd to imagine. Yet, they are able to create one here. I give total kudos to writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who so poignantly point out the true difference between the walking dead and us as humans. In a world where zombies live to destroy and kill, we as humans still live to connect and build.

Finally, it’s nice to see Woody Harrelson back on the big screen in a role that allows him to play cocky, brutish, and stupid: three characteristics worthy of “Zombie Killer of the Week”. Eisenberg also steps up his game, proving that he is equal to his more popular twin Michael Cera.

While some may say that the zombie genre is overdone, I say as long as there are new and inventive ways to kill zombies, I’ll keep watching.

Zombieland

1/2*

Review by Patrick Kane, Undead

A more horrible movie I don’t think I’ll see all year. An affront to the recently dead all over America and beyond, “Zombieland” doesn’t entertain for one frame, and spends much of its time glorifying violence.

BRRAAAAINNNSSS!!!!

The Earth is built on survival of the fittest. Naturally, a film suggesting that the living dead will advance beyond the animate and control more of the planet’s population is a bit threatening to the alive who now run things. But such condescension as in Mr. Bowler’s review is offensive and, quite frankly, pathetic. Are these the type of quotes that will uplift the sentient?:
“Zombies…live, only to kill, completely devoid of any positive trait”
“zombies, by their very nature are thoughtless, irrational creatures”
“zombies live to destroy and kill”
Perhaps somewhere between supposed human intelligence and the equally supposed lack of civility in those zombified lies Justin Bowler’s intellect level.

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Sorry about that, a spleen I was chewing on slipped out of my mouth and splattered on the keyboard, disrupting my typing. Apologies.

The undead don’t even get a chance to evolve in this movie. There is simply rampant genocide portrayed as sport. I’d like to see what primitive man was like in attempting to put together some kind of organized civilization. I’m sure there were many issues that their uncultivated personalities encountered when trying to build a culture. What if an elitist group of entitled persons thought it would be “entertaining” to execute man for fun in “new and inventive ways”. Well, we would be robbed of Mr. Bowler’s “hilarious” comments about movies. God forbid!!

Hopefully I made my last point clearly, as I had blood and pus oozing from a giant gash in my forehead and it seeped into my eyes, blurring my vision.

And how can a young, flowering talent like Abigail Breslin appear in this movie? Wasn’t she “Little Miss Sunshine” with Alan Arkin and “The Santa Clause 3” with Tim Allen? They’re zombies, she should have a little respect and remember where she came from. And –

Sorry, I’m trying to maintain the pace and thru-line of this article, but four hours actually passed between that last paragraph and this one. Turns out, and I wasn’t aware of this, a horde of the re-animated crowded my office and I was compelled to join their infectious mass as they tore through an internet café in Escondido, CA, leaving a wake of devastation and a grim reminder that death is not always the end!

In fact, I’m feeling a fierce desire to tear into human flesh again and must bring this article to a close. To re-iterate, “Zombieland” is not good for society as a whole, and fear not, Justin Bowler, we eat brains. You’re safe.

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Release Date: October 2, 2009
Run Time: 88 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

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