Climbing Higher Pictures

As usual… instead of updating the site, I go and see screenings. Also as usual, this review applies to a movie opening next weekend, and I hope it serves as a more or less informative take on why you need to go see the movie, as soon as possible.

Zombieland Review

By Ryan Hamelin

Movie Grade: A

Welcome to Zombieland, a world in which a viral parasite has taken over and transformed most of the population into flesh eating, blood spewing, and extremely irritable monstrosities. Unlike every other post-apocalyptic movie that has recently premiered, or is gearing up for release in the near future, Zombieland is fully aware of the ridiculous nature of its set up, and embraces the clichés of the genre with an awareness and hilarity that is unmatched in recent memory. You will laugh… a lot. I don’t mean in the point-at-the-screen-and-confirm-that-a-joke-has-taken-place variety, nor the I-know-I-should-be-laughing-so-I’m-sort-of-laughing-on-the-inside. You will laugh out loud for the entire length of the film. I honestly can’t remember a script with such consistently spot-on humor, and there’s a gigantic cameo around the middle of the movie which may be the film’s most incredible trump card, a moment which has been concealed so well by the marketing team that I wouldn’t dare spoil it here. Make no mistake, this is a dangerously funny comedy on par with such recent classics as The Hangover and Superbad.

Talk about bringing together the perfect cast for a film like this. For Jessie Eisenberg, this is the comedy we hoped that Adventureland would be. He is utilized so well for his quirky, nervous energy, that while we hope he gets parts that allow him to show his range in the future, he can’t get much better at being “that guy.” For Woody Harrelson, this was the man he was born to play. Say what you want about Natural Born Killers, Harrelson makes Tallahassee one of my favorite performances of the year. No one will win any acting awards for their work here due to the dramatic bend of such considerations, but they couldn’t be more entertaining if they tried. Tallahassee’s quest for a Twinkie is the sort of genius character motivation that the world of comedy has all but lost. Emma Stone has slimmed down since Superbad and her leather jacket fits her like a glove. You know all those parts Mila Kunis has been trying to portray badass in lately? Stone actually pulls it off. Abigail Breslin seems to have also come a long way since we last caught sight of her in Little Miss Sunshine. Her work as Little Rock is both endearing and believably aggressive. Between the two girls, the sisterhood dynamic manages to hit all the right notes and maintains a fairly dramatic thread in between the bouts of laughter.

Speaking of which, have I done enough to make you aware of how funny this movie is? I hope in doing so I have not set the bar too high, though I’m confident that it would manage to exceed any and all expectations.

On a side note, one of the time-honored staples of filmmaking that is played with impeccably here is that of slow motion. If you learn nothing else from seeing this movie, you will come away believing that everything looks better… in slow motion. Action set pieces, destructive comedy, or even the opening title sequence that so eloquently establishes the world and the tone of the film, manage to bring the use of slow motion for everyday activity to a whole new level. The title design work itself is hilariously visceral and as words and symbols continue to pop up throughout the film, they only seem to become more of a part of the world. Describing them is an inherently useless exercise, but again, once you see the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Is it a perfect film? No. Was it an absolute blast? Completely. Should you do your best to see it early in its run with a crowd of people to get the true movie-going experience? Without a doubt. I don’t wholeheartedly recommend films, even great ones, on a regular basis because there’s always the off chance that the parts which worked for me are not going to do the same for the rest of the public. In this case however, do yourself a favor, go see Zombieland, and at the very least it’ll be well worth the price of the ticket.