Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Have I Seen It Before?: I missed in the theaters. I was even scheduled to watch it for an episode of Beyond the Cabin in the Woods, but was too enmeshed in the post-production for The Fourth Wall to make time for a screening. C’es la vie.
Did I like it?: As I mentioned in my review of the original <Zombieland (2009)> that zombies and I have never gotten along. Given both my feelings, and the fact that the zombie comedy had been perfected with Shaun of the Dead (2004), it’s pretty impressive that the original could be entertaining at all.
Did it need a sequel? Is a sequel even welcome? What more could they explore that was somehow omitted from the original? As it turns out not much, as the characters have stayed in almost complete stasis in the ten years since the original film. Suspiciously so. Has there been any series with ten years between installments where the characters are more entrenched in the types of people they were in the earlier entry?
That stasis notwithstanding, given that the four leads are likable enough, spending another two hours with them doesn’t feel like a chore. Adding a series of characters that are pointedly similar to the originals to throw a wrench into things feels varying degrees of awkward, but the film could have been far more embarrassing, as many protracted gap sequels often are.
But couldn’t we have had more with Bill Murray (once again, Bill Murray)? I once again was not expecting him to be in the film, but his adventures in the first day of Zombieland over the end credits are once again the highlight of the film. Murray probably wouldn’t have been game for such an endeavor, but we couldn’t have done a prequel of his entire adventures leading up to the first movie?
I probably just want fewer zombie movies, and far more Bill Murray movies. Thus, this film series (should it continue) will likely continue to flummox me.