Notebook on Cinema: Zombieland
The bride-t0-be and I saw Zombieland on Thursday night in a just-advanced screening (thanks, Aint it Cool!). The movie, which is getting plenty of attention and giving plenty of advertisement, is excellent in a funny and violent and ludicrous way. It’s also receiving comparisons to Shaun of the Dead, since both movies are zombie comedies with a touch of romance. Shaun of the Dead is also one of the better zombie movies ever produced, and for its part, Zombieland is the best effort to date in the realm of Fast Zombies (as portrayed in 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake).
Despite these obvious comparison points–all zombie movies are always compared to Romero, and now, presumably, all funny zombie movies that are successful will be compared to Shaun of the Dead–the movie I found myself most thinking about as the credits scrolled is one I remember being called The Legend of Hidden Lake, but since I cannot find that title on IMDB, I can only assume I’m misremembering this film, The Legend of Evil Lake, which seems as though it has a roughly similar plot.
Legend of Evil Lake is a Korean movie about ancient warriors and magic and power-lust. What struck me most about it, however, was that each action scene in the movie managed to reveal elements of the character. The way each character fought revealed their emotions and motivations and who they were. Zombieland is similar in this regard. Its narrator, Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is nervous and awkward, and keeps alive by following an ever-expanding list of survival rules that he keeps in a small notebook with him at all times. He runs before he shoots. Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee, meanwhile, is sadistic in his zombie killing. The zombies have taken everything away from him, and he, crazed, will take some back. The world is now a videogame for Tallahassee.
Don’t see the movie for that, though. See it for big trucks and guns and bloody clowns and the quick fire jokes. The fact that the action isn’t just empty noise is merely a bonus.
