The world has greatly changed over the last ten years. Technology has greatly advanced, smartphones and social media are ubiquitous, filmmaking has changed, and the advent of streaming services has transformed the movie industry while giving rise to new voices. Society has evolved too, the political landscape completely altered in the age of Trump. But like death and taxes, you can always count on some studio to deliver a belated sequel that arrives way past its sell-by date and adds nothing, let alone cultural value from when it last left off. That’s “Zombieland 2: Double Tap,” a repetitive, uninspired, and ultimately braindead sequel.
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“Shaun of the Dead” laid the groundwork for how to make a great zombie comedy, but director Ruben Fleischer, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and the incredible cast of Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin (with a major assist from the iconic Bill Murray) put a decidedly American spin on the premise in 2009 with the original “Zombieland,” giving audiences a ton of gory zombie kills, raunchy humor, and memorable performances.
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‘Double Tap’ aims to do the same, but as with many sequels, the only difference is that everything is dialed up to an overwrought 11. There are even more over-the-top kills (the coveted “Zombie Kill of the Week” has been given an even larger title), more characters, more comedy, and just more…everything. It’s the type of sequel that you’d expect to arrive just a year after the original, with studio mandate of amping up every aspect that made the first film so popular with little thought as to why it should exist. If you’re expecting a film that will have the same freshness of the original, you’re out of luck. Sadly, that’s not ‘Zombieland 2.’
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‘Zombieland 2’ finds our four heroes from the first film enjoying life in the zombie-filled hellscape. In the years since the original, they’ve taken over the White House and grown together as a family. But when one of the four splits town with a hippy, the other three must traverse Z-land once again on a rescue mission, while also surviving the influx of new, mutated zombies that are shown to be unstoppable killing machines, reminiscent of a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger character. Clearly, this isn’t exactly a tightly-plotted masterpiece. But if the best you’ve got after ten years is a monster truck, jokes about hippies, and new characters that look and sound exactly like the others, then why bother?
It’s completely evident that “Zombieland 2: Double Tap” is perfectly okay treading water from the very beginning, when the same slow-motion credits sequence that is found in the first film returns in the new installment, complete with another Metallica needle drop to set the mood. From there, you get the expected narration from Eisenberg, who is still the same sad-sack, obsessing over rules, and still horrible with women. The rest of the cast doesn’t fare much better, as Harrelson is doing his redneck tough guy bit, but even louder and more rednecky, Stone is the same closed off, distrustful girl, and Breslin still wants to enjoy her childhood, although now the amusement park dreams are replaced by weed smoking and the desire for a boyfriend. Basically, not a lot of character growth in the last decade.
The jokes are largely pulled from the first film, as well. Remember the time that Tallahassee hated minivans? That’s back! What about the gag with the zombie-killing rules popping up on screen every time they’re followed? Back and more in your face than ever! Oh, do you remember how funny it is that Columbus drinks Mountain Dew Code Red? He’s still at it! You get the idea. Even the best part of the first film, the surprise cameo from Bill Murray, gets riffed on once again. However, lucky for the audience, that is still actually hilarious and is the obvious highlight of the sequel.
Now, that isn’t to say that ‘Zombieland 2’ doesn’t bring anything new to the table. In fact, there are plenty of new characters, and largely, they steal the show. Without a doubt, the standout performance of the film comes from Zoey Deutch’s Madison character. Though her schtick ultimately goes nowhere and can be grating, at times, she’s a constant source of giggles and when she’s on screen, the film seems to come back to life ever so slightly. The same can be said about the brief (sadly, very brief) appearances by Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch, as the Harrelson and Eisenberg doppelgangers, as they also deliver a jolt of fun to the plot in a scene that also features the film’s best action beat. Wilson and Middleditch are so entertaining that you can’t help but wonder if ‘Double Tap’ was pitched around this one scene, as the rest of the film doesn’t carry an ounce of the same creativity that is found in this brief aside. As for the other major addition to the cast, Rosario Dawson, she’s…uh, there. Her role is relegated to love interest, and outside of the final minutes of the film, Dawson is woefully underused.
Ultimately, ‘Zombieland 2’ failed to follow rule #1 of sequels — “Don’t wait ten years and give audiences the exact same thing as before.” If you do that, you’re no better than the living dead that come back to life only to annoy you for a brief moment before you mercifully shoot it in the head. [C-]
