Zombieland meanders down a river of corpses

Rating: 6/10 (3 October 2009)

I enjoyed Zombieland, and yet I was left feeling unsatisfied. It seems to have been well reviewed because there is nothing necessarily bad about the movie, but beyond a few laughs, there really isn't much good about Zombieland either. I wanted to like it, and I enjoyed the first two thirds of the movie, but then I got this sinking feeling that it just isn't going anywhere. There's some stabs at character development, but it is incredibly simplified - the main character is a neurotic baby Woody Allen type, Tallahassee is tough because he lost someone or something, and the girls don't trust anyone, because... they just don't. Some people have been comparing this to "Shaun of the dead", but I think that was a vastly superior film, mainly because the zombies were an actual threat in "Shaun". In Zombieland, the zombies exist more for their slapstick appeal. The plot is loose and unconnected, and makes no real sense. This is a movie that cried for a dark side, just a glint of pain, disaster, personal loss. I was not a fan of the ending either, it felt like a TV ending, leaving everything open so there can be a sequel, and almost nothing is resolved. The acting is solid, I have to lay the blame on the script, the story's arc was weak, even if many of the scenes were strong. Finally, don't get me wrong, it's worth seeing, just not worth gushing over.