Zombieland: Double Tap Review Thread

[Temtastic Muns]

Rotten Tomatoes:
Zombieland: Double Tap makes up for a lack of fresh brains with an enjoyable reunion that recaptures the spirit of the original and adds a few fun twists.

Variety:
The zombies have evolved in "Zombieland: Double Tap"; the comedy not so much. But that's OK, because Ruben Fleischer's 2009 breakout hit — which gobbled up $75.6 million in a genre fast approaching its pop-culture saturation point — was already a few steps ahead of the curve.

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Hollywood Reporter:
Rounding up all the original's stars and throwing several more surviving human characters into the mix, the pic is plenty entertaining for those of us who, paradoxically, find zombies comforting in dark times. Few of its new ingredients are home runs, and some elements play out like obligations — especially the romantic travails of Columbus and the restless woman (Emma Stone's Wichita) he loves. But with Walking Dead threatening to lurch onward until every bit of appeal falls off its bones, and with George Romero gone to the mysterious ghoulish beyond, taking another road trip with this crew is certainly worth a fan's time.

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IGN:
Recapturing, replicating, and improving on everything the original movie brought to the table was never going to be easy. However, director Ruben Fleischer and the film's writers have succeeded where others have failed with sequels to great original movies. Zombieland: Double Tap is a more than worthy sequel and companion piece to the original movie. It licks along at a brisk pace, which ensures that it is tight, lean, and the laughs and thrills come thick and fast.

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Den of Geek:
It seems like there may not have been much of a demand for a Zombieland sequel after all this time, but coming at the end of nearly a decade of the grimdark, endlessly bleak atrocities that The Walking Dead and company have been bringing us (not to mention a clutch of derivative "zom-coms" that have arisen in Zombieland's wake), its plentiful laughs and casual craziness may be just what we need right now.

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Entertainment Weekly:
Director Ruben Fleischer (Venom) is herding them all toward some kind of ultimate man-vs.-zombie showdown, but the action sequences often feel like the least necessary thing about the movie. For all the flying intestines and skulls that split open like past-due melons, Double Tap has another squishy organ at its center: a big, goofball heart.

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Cinemablend:
The film isn't exactly a game-changer, as while it doesn't fall into the devastating sequel trap of repeating all the same gags from the original, it does have a very familiar structure. But this isn't a movie that needed to break the mold to succeed. Zombieland: Double Tap is a solid addition to the big screen zom-com legacy, and a funny, freaky 10 year reunion.

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The Telegraph:
Though it coasts on some wildly uneven star charisma, there's nothing particularly objectionable about Double Tap. It's fine? It's just a time-killer we didn't much need, a decade after we hardly needed the first one.

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Indiewire:
Every movie sequel is inevitably beholden to certain elements of its first film, but "Zombieland: Double Tap" cribs so liberally from the original that it robs the entire outing of any narrative tension whatsoever (and this is a franchise built around the fear of increasingly unpredictable brain-biting monsters, basically a cinematic tension delivery service).

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For what it's worth, I enjoyed the film greatly (my thoughts here), but the bulk of the reviews do echo my main complaint about the final act's set piece not being as inventive or thrilling as the first movie's. Everyone is near unanimous in loving Zoey Deutch's performance as Madison.

 

[Elandyll]

Frankly, it being more of the same with great cast chemistry isn't a bad thing in my book, so bring it on! :)

 

[DMVfan123]

Good to hear that it's reviewing well (for the most part)
Gonna watch the first one this week and then see this with A-List either this or next weekend

 

[Mcfrank]

Excited to see it. 1st one is the type of movie I can watch over and over.

 

[Chris McQueen]

Higher RT score than I imagined. Good to hear.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Sounds like they succeeded where so many other sequels failed.

They didn't try to reinvent the wheel, or turn Zombieland into something it's not. The cast reunited after 10 years for one purpose: More Zombieland. And that's all we ever asked for. :)

 

[CrazyAndy]

Loved the first one, will definitely watch this in the theater. Too bad it releases November 7 here.

 

[gdt]

It's true that they took way too long to make a sequel. Still, seems like it turned out great.

But holy shit the first is 10 years old....oh m god

 

[Salty Catfish]

Pretty much sounds like what I expected. I could tell from the trailers it wasn't gonna do anything new, it'll just be fun seeing the cast back together. Cinematic comfort food.

 

[Richter1887]

Sounds good!

I am going to have to rewatch the first movie to prepare for this.

 

[Chris McQueen]

So I just found out Zoey Deutch's mother is Lea Thompson. Holy fuck, no wonder I was looking at her like I'd seen her before.

 

[shaneo632]

Any word on if it has a post-credits scene?

Also pleasantly surprised about reviews for Zoey Deutsch, her character seemed like a one-note ditzy stereotype in the trailers.

 

[abellwillring]

Great to see it being well received so far -- definitely excited to see this. Loved the first one so more of the same with a few wrinkles works fine for me.

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Any word on if it has a post-credits scene?

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There is, but it's not nearly as significant as the mid-credits one. Still worth sticking around for since it punctuates the mid-credits scene.

 

[Falchion]

Sounds like a worthy sequel.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Since there was only one movie and it came out a while ago, I absolutely don't mind the sequel being more of the same. Clearly it would get boring if this was like 5th movie, but in this case I'm happy that's exactly what they're bringing. Can't wait to watch it, but not before yet another rewatch of the first movie, just in time for Halloween probably.

 

[DrScruffleton]

Pretty surprised. I saw the red band trailer before joker and thought it looked awful

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Some choice video reviews:

 

[Temtastic Muns]

So I just found out Zoey Deutch's mother is Lea Thompson. Holy fuck, no wonder I was looking at her like I'd seen her before.

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She definitely takes after mom.

 

[Blade24070]

Zoey Deutch is fast becoming a star, she was great in Set It Up and The Politician.

 

[LosDaddie]

Exactly what I expected

already planning on going with a few friendsBro watch it next Tuesday

 

[Temtastic Muns]

So with the movie out now, I'm gonna post some spoiler impressions. Let's start with the BIG spoiler:

Spoiler

That Madison death fake-out. Which at the time I thought it strange how she even got infected in the first place; she clearly didn't get bitten during the group's first skirmish with the T-800 zombie, and that struck me as doubly odd when Albuquerque was shown to have gotten bit and began turning immediately. And even though she left such a lasting impression that I would've been satisfied had her role in the film ended there, it's to Deuch's ultimate credit that she embodied such a charismatically over-the-top character that you can't help but be delighted that she would be present for the final half.

Other miscellaneous spoilers:

Spoiler

That second act skirmish I mentioned, the one with Tallahassee and Columbus fighting off their zombified counterparts was definitely the highlight action sequence of the film. The frenetic choreography and one-shot take was superbly done.

By comparison, the final confrontation at Babylon fell kinda short -- although I'm glad it gave an excuse for Dawson to come back into the picture. There were some fun kills involving the BIG FAT DEATH, but the sequence just didn't have the same sense of visceral thrills as Harrelson's one-man army assault at Pacific Playland. (I'll admit to feeling a bit scared for Tallahassee hanging off that hook, though; I was banking 50/50 that those final two zombies were gonna do him in. >_<;)

In retrospect, Breslin's story arc was a weak part of the film. Separated from the other three leads (who luckily had Deuch on their side for that replaced dynamic), Avan Jogia's Berkeley was just, well..... dull. Dull and witless. Not a lot to bounce off of there. The bag of weed bit was about his one and only good scene.

My biggest laugh came when Emma Stone was emulating Madison becoming a zombie -- "not a velociraptor."

They nixed the Clinton administration cigar joke from the trailer. Maybe they wanted to keep it apolitical there?

The mini-van was actually my favorite running gag. Harrelson's constant disgust at having to go back to the thing again and again was hilarious.

The Homer gag was cute, but I wished they did a bit more with the other new breeds they introduced, the Hawking and the Ninja.

The Rules vs Commandments dialogue was great, but the Uber joke was a bit too on the nose to me.

Finally, I loved how game both Bill Murray and Al Roker were during the mid-credits sequence by throwing themselves right into the action. And yes, for the Grace Randolph haters, this part should please you as well. :P

 

[Khanimus]

The number of long-belated sequels that fucking suck is so high. Hell, the number of good comedy sequels already makes one hesitant to hope for this.

Amazing this came together as well as it did.

 

[shaneo632]

Pleasantly surprised by this. Was expecting mediocrity but I re-watched the first one last night and I honestly don't think there's much between them. It's undeniably a retread structurally but it moves fast, most of the one-liners land, the action and gore are much better than in the first, and the supporting cast kills it.

Could've done without that weird recurring gag about Woody Harrelson having Native American roots though. Wasn't funny and just felt tone deaf.

Also thought

Spoiler

the Madison "twist" was lame. It was so predictable I thought we were being trolled, especially with the Deadpool writers on board. Would've been funnier if she just never came back or they find her brutalised corpse later

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Also thought

Spoiler

the Madison "twist" was lame. It was so predictable I thought we were being trolled, especially with the Deadpool writers on board. Would've been funnier if she just never came back or they find her brutalised corpse later

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Spoiler

I dunno if that would've been funnier, per se -- unless you genuinely didn't care for the character, or were actively wishing for her demise.

As I mentioned in my post above, I wouldn't have necessarily MINDED if she actually stayed dead; she had a gnarly 'infected' scene, and it felt like her story purpose was ultimately fulfilled: to drive a wedge between Columbus and Wichita. Whether she returned or not didn't seem consequential to C&W reconciling by the end, but Madison is such a fun foil for the group that I wasn't about to say no to her getting more screentime.

For me, her death and then return is a case of "that was good, but this is even better."

 

[Randomly Generated]

The number of long-belated sequels that fucking suck is so high. Hell, the number of good comedy sequels already makes one hesitant to hope for this.

Amazing this came together as well as it did.

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Especially since they couldn't seem to get the Zombieland show off the ground.

Maybe the reason this is apparently good is that none of the people involved really needed to do it career-wise, it was just because they wanted to.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

I am gonna see if I can catch it tonight

 

[mangopositive]

Just got back from date night... Really good. We loved the first one and this one seemed like more of the same, but 10 years later and welcome. I don't find many comedies funny, but this one had some great, deep laughs from me and my wife.

 

[HeartlessNobody2134]

Really liked it. For a sequel that took 10 years it actually worked. Madison for MVP.

 

[mojo]

Wow I can't believe how bad this was. I got like 1 real laugh out of the entire thing. 10 years for them to make a sequel that felt like some shit the studio forced them to put out 2 years later.

 

[aisback]

I saw it last night and it wasn't bad. Just like the first one

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Funny but not as good as the first.

And you really gotta not think about certain things.

Spoiler

Like the obvious allergy that no one picked up on. And the fact soda would be flat in the bottle by now. And the whole hippie commune thing being really stupid in an apocalypse. And how did Reno even show up at the end at all at just the right time.

 

[Prolepro]

This was fuckin awful.

There's really not much worth saying other than that.

 

[Anustart]

Funny but not as good as the first.

And you really gotta not think about certain things.

Spoiler

Like the obvious allergy that no one picked up on. And the fact soda would be flat in the bottle by now. And the whole hippie commune thing being really stupid in an apocalypse. And how did Reno even show up at the end at all at just the right time.

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No one in the movie picked up on but it was pretty obvious they were pandering to the audience, not the cast, with that.

Fun movie and I thought it much better than the first.

 

[Antoo]

It was ok. It's not as tight as the first and really feels like a hastily thrown together sequel, which is weird it has taken 10 years for a sequel.

There's simply too many disparate threads going on that there's no time to really ruminate or develop one of them specifically.There are relationship issues surrounding commitment. Ok, that could be interesting. Nothing substantial is done with it and that's thrown out the window at the end. The teenage girl wants to hang out with people closer to her age. Makes sense and could be interesting. Touched on briefly but thrown out hastily by the end.

They set up some interesting developments but barely do anything with them. Instead they spend time doing stuff like giving Woody Harrelson a love interest? Like what?

It's got some moments but overall is a mess. Madison is fun though.

 

[Infernostew]

I got talked into seeing it by my friend since I haven't seen her in a while. It was... not great... 5/10

 

[Kung Fucius]

Saw it today and enjoyed it. I caught the mid-credit stinger, but missed the post credit one. I wanted to stay and see if there was anything at the end, but my friends were leaving. Could some please post the post-credits scene in spoiler tags?

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Saw it today and enjoyed it. I caught the mid-credit stinger, but missed the post credit one. I wanted to stay and see if there was anything at the end, but my friends were leaving. Could some please post the post-credits scene in spoiler tags?

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Spoiler

Day 0. Bill Murray is doing interviews about Garfield 3 when zombies attack. He gracefully kills several (like Tallahassee) while quoting catch phrases from his films.

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Saw it today and enjoyed it. I caught the mid-credit stinger, but missed the post credit one. I wanted to stay and see if there was anything at the end, but my friends were leaving. Could some please post the post-credits scene in spoiler tags?

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Spoiler

It's a blooper outtake of Murray hacking up a hairball for the camera.

 

[Kung Fucius]

Thanks!

 

[Insane Dead]

Really enjoyed this movie! My theater was so empty though hope the movie is doing good.

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Really enjoyed this movie! My theater was so empty though hope the movie is doing good.

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The film made close to 27 million this weekend domestically. A very respectable number and a tad higher than studio/industry expectations.

 

[take_marsh]

Saw it on friday and thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot people almost missed the amazing credits.They all still got great chemistry and I would be fine seeing another one in ten years where Talahassee is in a fully-armed wheelchair.

 

[poptire]

I liked it enough. Madison was the best part of the movie.

 

[Garrett 2U]

That movie fucking sucked. I am so disappointed.

Post credit was the only redeemable part.

 

[Cbrun44]

Very little interest from me in a Zombieland sequel. What I want is an Adventureland sequel. That's what we need.