•
Rating:
I can't help it. I'm unbelievably attracted to the undead. It might be because I grew up on bread and George A. Romero. Or maybe I have a certain empathy towards these unfortunate and losing monsters. The vampire is tough. So is the werewolf. Then there are the various invincible aliens that Sigourney Weaver taught us to defeat. But not the zombie. It's a wimp. Pure cannon fodder.
The fact remains that every damn time a new movie about these "charming" creatures comes out, I rush to see it with the enthusiasm of a child. Sure, 80% (or maybe more) of the time I find myself facing yet another worthless idea-less piece of crap (did someone say Resident Evil?), or the classic trash flick where heads are blown off from start to finish.
Instead, Welcome to Zombieland is a pleasant surprise. A funny and ironic film that uses the dynamics of comedy (if you will, teen) and road movie to depict an apocalyptic scenario infested with undead hungry for live flesh (little live flesh in this case).
After the admirable "Shaun of the dead" (translated to "L'alba dei morti dementi" in Italian, meaning "The Dawn of the Demented Dead"), here comes another harmless pastime that for an hour and a half manages to draw smiles and effectively turn off the bad thoughts that fill our demented minds.
The story is told in the first person by Columbus, the classic nerdy teenager without friends and totally lacking in social life. One might say that the zombie invasion is a true blessing for him, as it leads him to meet people, conquer his thousand phobias/obsessions, and even get (!), a girl (Emma Stone, by the way, quite a beauty).
Completing the cast we have: Tallahassee, a splendid Woody Harrelson in a psychotic role, whose only remaining goal in life is to find a Twinkie, besides, of course, committing a massacre. Wichita and Little Rock, two ultra-cynical, conniving sisters who will try at all costs to reach a super amusement park in California to try and have fun again in a destroyed world. The amusement park, the ultimate destination of the journey, is nothing more than the metaphor of the film (if we really want to find one): the whole world can be an "amusement park," in any situation, even the worst, as long as you learn to adapt to every situation.
As already mentioned, the story unfolds like a road movie, in which the characters will learn to know each other and coexist until the final massacre. Nothing new under the sun, in short.
The direction by Ruben Fleischer (who????) is fresh and bombastic, perhaps a little too "music-video-esque," but it absolutely does not clash. The whole thing is filled with abundant extradiegetic text in the form of notes from an imaginary protagonist's notebook on surviving Zombieland (like: check the back seat, always stay in shape because the overweight are the first to die, etc...).
Finally, the splendid acrobatic shooting scenes on the rides and the utterly ridiculous cameo by Bill Murray, in which some scenes from "Ghostbusters" are revisited, are noteworthy.
Pure entertainment, but of a certain level.
Loading comments slowly
