‘Zombieland 2’ is a return to the funniest of apocalypses

Posted on October 25, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Let’s face it. If there is one type of film that almost never works, it is the comedy sequel that arrives years after most expected it to. “Dumb and Dumberer” and “Zoolander 2” come to mind almost immediately. And, while “Super Troopers 2” made me laugh quite a bit, it will unfortunately never reach the quotable longevity of the original.

As such, I went into “Zombieland: Double Tap” with much hope and almost as much trepidation. Fortunately, the film delivered exactly what I was looking for, maintaining the original’s humorous tone while adding in just the right amount of heart.

“Zombieland,” which hit theaters 10 years ago, was a hilarious zombie comedy that introduced us to four survivors, the neurotic, rule-creating Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Twinkie-obsessed zombie-ziller Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), the quick-thinking grifter Wichita (Emma Stone) and her younger sister and accomplice, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).

The opening moments of that film, with Columbus’ deadpan voice-over, not only introduced us to this particular version of the zombie apocalypse, but also his rules for survival, including “cardio” and “double tap,” which gave the sequel its name.

The best thing about “Double Tap” is how good a sequel it is. Every character conflict in this movie is a genuine extension of the characters we met in the first film. Additionally, the writers — Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who followed up the first film by penning both “Deadpool” movies — do a great job of playing homage to our favorite aspects of the original film without tossing in a forced call-back to every joke we loved the first time around.

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