Zombieland is about more than violence and eating flesh

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis has agreed to use whatever it is you call his writing style to provide some measure of analysis to those folks who still go to a theater to see a movie. Enjoy.

review by Peter Lewis

From the outside, Zombieland may seem like nothing more than another zombie flick, another  witty, fast-paced, zombie killing survival movie. While it most certainly functions on this level, what catapults Zombieland above the tired fray is its emotional weight.  Beneath the glossy exterior of inventive violence and grotesque special effects runs a linear story of emotional connectivity.

Narrated by a quirky loner, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), the story begins as he is trying to make his way in a post-apocalyptic America. With the world’s population transformed into myopic flesh-eaters, Columbus holds out hope that his parents (in Columbus) may have survived as well. His survival is predicated on following a strict set of rules that were born as much out of his pre-zombie neurosis for safety as any thing that came after the world was transformed.

Though there is an ample amount of zombie killing throughout the film, Zombieland is a road trip movie. With the craftily constructed insular world of Columbus propelling the movie forward, the audience is introduced to first Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) then Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin respectively), two grifter sisters. As the world’s population was transformed into emotionally empty flesh-eaters, each character resorts to a cutthroat, trust no one approach to life. Forming an uneasy alliance, they set out toward California, chasing the naïve hope of a zombie-free land.

Much like its genre predecessor Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland is decidedly funny. Despite the grotesque effects and the splattering, stylized violence, the film is offered with a sly grin and a wink. Even with the world’s population transformed into flesh-eating zombies, smiles can still be had. This humor makes the whole story more palatable, more affectingly real despite the fantastical plot premise (This paradox is never more true than in the riotously funny cameo appearance of Bill Murray).

Despite the highly-stylized nature of the film, despite the world-weary dead-pan hilarity, Zombieland is also able to function as an affecting allegory of human connection. Perhaps this delves too deeply, but there were (to me) obvious corollaries throughout the film to much desperate works of loneliness like Me and You and Everyone We Know. The latter film is an eccentric indie film that examines loneliness in a “connected” modern age. Technology, a connector of people, can also be inherently devoid of true emotion, true connection. It desensitizes interaction, stripping the real impact of connectivity by offering an almost proxy world.

Zombieland is an intriguing and allegorical alternative to this post-modern vision of the world. Beset by the virulently desensitized, these four jaundiced loners are tossed together. For so long, survival was predicated on cutthroat behavior. It led the sisters to a life of con artistry, Columbus to his rules, and the emotionally mature Tallahassee to harden (almost) beyond repair. Amidst the unfathomable chaos, they are able to connect in ways they all thought were lost.

Creating an evenly paced movie is always a balancing act. Within the zombie genre, much like the larger horror genre, this task is ever more difficult. There is a tendency for outlandishness that instead of shocking or scaring, mires the output in vapidity. Zombieland never once loses focus. As it rises to its stylized finish, it is the affecting human emotion that keeps the film from falling victim to the plague of insipidity that so often drags down other films.

• “Zombieland” is playing at the Carmike 14 in Fort Smith. Link here for ticket info and show times.

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