Zombieland

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick
Released: October 2, 2009
Genre: Horror, Comedy (Zombie Comedy)
Budget: $23,600,000
Gross: $75,590,286
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Pariah
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: R
Sound mix: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1








Synopsis:
The film Zombieland takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are the top predator.

A survivor and the film's protagonist, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), has a list of rules in which he follows in order to survive. He presents this list in narration.

Columbus is looking to go to his hometown Columbus, Ohio to see if his parents are still alive. On the way he meets a man headed for Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). Since they were both headed east they decide to keep each other company for the trip. 

Along the way, Columbus and Tallahassee run into two sisters, Wichita and Little Rock. One has been bitten and they need Columbus or Tallahassee to kill her before she turns into a zombie. Right before Tallahassee shoots the girl her older sister decides to kill her herself and takes the gun. However, the two girls reveal they were just scamming them. They take their gun, amo, and truck and take off leaving Columbus and Tallahassee abandoned.

Columbus and Tallahassee then go on search for a new truck and guns. Fortunately, they find a hummer with guns and amo in the back seat. They head east when they once again run into the two sisters who hold them both hostage and head to Pacific Playland in California. 

The four survivors stop at Bill Murray's house to come to find Bill Murray is still alive. But Bill plays a prank on Columbus which costs him his life. At Bill Murray's house Wichita and Columbus develop a romance for each other. They almost kiss but are interrupted by Tallahassee to build blanket forts. When Tallahassee and Columbus wake up the next day, however, they find Wichita and Little Rock leaving them once again. 

Upset and uneasy, Columbus decides to go after the Wichita. He finds them at Pacific Playland surrounded by zombies. Tallahassee then attracts all the attention to himself and kills a vast amount of zombies in the park. Surprisingly, Columbus breaks one of his rules and becomes the hero. He saves Wichita and Little Rock. 

Commentary:

Jesse Eisenberg's narration was exceptional and always reliably funny. The film was scattered with puns and not bad ones, but good intended puns. Even Emma Stone in her "scam artists" scenes was a delight. Overall Zombieland was fairly enjoyable and hilarious by the second. 

Throughout the film Wichita and Little Rock were always a step ahead Tallahassee and Columbus. Even when sparks fly between Wichita and Columbus she still leaves the next morning. As the film climaxed Wichita found themselves a step ahead but stuck. They got on a ride at Pacific Playland that goes up and down and after being surrounded by zombies they shot the control panel so they could stay high up. Columbus comes to the rescue and kills the zombies and gets them down.

Both Wichita and Little Rock being high up and above Columbus on the ride worked as a representation of how they were always a step ahead of the boys. They were always above them. But, like all the other times they screwed the boys over, they still needed them. In this case they needed Columbus and Tallahassee to kill the zombies and needed Columbus to pull the e-break and bring the girls back down. The ride moving down to the ground where Columbus stood was like bringing the girls to the same level as Columbus and Tallahassee. There were no more games, no more leaving, no more being a step ahead of the other person. From now on they were all together and all equal.