Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Altered Zombieland Review (Megan's)


Zombieland Review


When we think about films, a horror-comedy is the type of picture that can go either one way or the other, and, surprisingly, Zombieland has tipped the scales in its favour; just about. With its strong mix of characters, and reckless, adventurous nature rubbing up against a tale of romance and bout of comedy, it’s certainly a film that keeps the audience intrigued. Yes, some of the gags fall dead here and there, leaving us with a few limp chuckles, and some moments are gut-wrenchingly cliché, but, all in all, for what it is, it could have a been a disaster.      Within the opening scene of the film, you are immediately immersed into the post-apocalyptic world of the ‘Unites States of Zombieland’, and what you get is an immediate and comical zombie-fest of slow motion shots of undead vs. human fun. Unfortunately, the quality of the humour begins to plummet - it does, however, save itself by keeping you invested through the relationships forming between certain characters, and the peppering of a good zombie punch up here and there; with the blood gargling and rotten zombies being realistically nasty. Certain scenes stand out in particular, such as an unusual rollercoaster ride that would have you screaming in terror for all of the wrong reasons, and a gas guzzling mum running from her sweet, little, flesh eating angels within the first 5 minutes of the film.      The characters are generally likeable, with tough guy Woody Harrelson bringing the action, and Emma Stone’s fiery character adding onto this, whilst also playing as part of the romance sub-genre with weak nerd Jesse Eisenberg. Yet, although we’ve been given a colourful palette of characters to feast upon (pun intended), the greatest moment of the film lies in its much anticipated cameo. The cameo is introduced perfectly and their jokes hit you right in the funny bone, coming as a much needed boost to its comedy genre. Despite all of that, you can’t help but feel that the story sometimes gets lost within itself, skipping back onto the recurring ‘twinkie’ joke, and slipping in clichéd moments towards the predictable ‘finale’ which doesn’t go off with much of a heart shaking bang as it perhaps could have done. Don’t feel discouraged, it certainly does take you on a good ride through this post-apocalyptic world, but just doesn’t seem to bring anything new to its hybrid genre; making it, really, a throwaway film.      So, if you’re are looking for a cheap thrill movie that has a strong set up of characters and a good promise of laugh out loud fun, then Zombieland should be next on your list. It certainly doesn’t bring anything new to the Horror-Comedy table, but does enough to keep you entertained and fairly satisfied. My advice? Stick to Shaun of the Dead.