Zombieland

(Don't Fear) The Reaper, baby. Unfortunately I was right when I said to myself after seeing the opening credits that nothing better could possibly follow. Zombieland is a movie where its greatest blessing is also its greatest affliction. Woody Harrelson is unarguably outstanding and pulls the whole movie along, but even so the role should have been given to somebody with cult status gained by hard work in countless B-movies. Yes, somebody like Bruce Campbell would be more suitable. And everything in Zombielandis like. What you find here is good and entertaining, but you can also see clearly how much better and more rounded it could of been... P.S.: It was really nice to see the nod to Deliverance. (30/11/2009)

Likeable main protagonists, a ton of laughs and eye-candy slow motion splattering blood. What more could one ask for? Woody Harrelson is awesome and Jesse Eisenberg was a very pleasant surprise. The zombies here aren’t spooky, so no horror, but maybe comedy of the year. You must learn to appreciate the simple things in life. (30/11/2009)

I confess that despite the excellent responses, I didn’t believe in Zombieland, at all. The trailer didn’t interest me in the slightest and given how much I (didn’t) like that other highly praised zombie comedy (Shawn of the Dead), I expected 80 minutes of boredom and suffering. Fortunately, the heroes of Zombieland are a lot more likeable than the gang around Simon Pegg. Where I fundamentally disagree with most other reviewers is in my opinion about the course of the film. I consider the beginning as the weakest part (those first fifteen minutes made me fear a new Shawn, with the corresponding two stars), the quiet moments in the middle (the interactions of the characters) as the best, and the action-packed climax as a fun end to the ride. BM’s cameo was awesome! (03/11/2009)

Because it lacks a more robust framework, Zombieland starts and ends out of nowhere. But the characters are likeable and well directed, and the movie uses some very effective slow-motion shots. This is a pleasant chill-out movie, but Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead was bolder and more brutal, which pays off in the zombie sub-genre. (14/12/2009)

The first part had exactly the amount of rawness and blood that I had been longing for – it parodies the aesthetics of teenage horror and comedy, peppers one-liners one after another and culminates with a famous cameo by Bill Murray, which is destined to be a cult cameo. Unfortunately, any and all invention is lost thereafter and Zombieland starts to lose its way and the banal finale cannot improve on the lost tempo. Suddenly, what was parodied before is now part of the film, as well as awkwardness and implausibility. We also have the fat redneck Harrelson, who saves the ship from completely hitting the rocks and sinking. Partial elements of Zombieland are amongst the great representatives of horror comedy, but it's too bad that Fleischer et al. were unable to connect them into a meaningful whole. In fact, it’s too bad that they even tried. Because they deserve a smack on the head for the family ending. (19/11/2009)