Zombieland was released all the way back in 2009, an age in which we genuinely found The Hangover hilarious, an age in which we found Avatar so compelling, it left some fans depressed at the fact that they would never live inside a harmonious, hunter-gatherer society on another planet.
Zombieland 2: Double Tap feels exactly like a film from the same time period, which perhaps makes it an authentic sequel, but unless you happen to be a diehard fan of the original, a complete waste of time.
What made Zombieland enjoyable was watching four strangers with clashing personalities forced to rely on one other to survive, and becoming friends along the way; that’s usually the main appeal to zombie movies, a key ingredient to the recipe.
Double Tap doesn’t do this, introducing ancient comedy archetypes instead, like Madison, the dumb valley girl, and two characters that strongly resemble the protagonists, in looks and personality (but of course, the protagonists can’t see it).
There’s also Nevada, the badass female warrior, and a hippie guy who plays guitar and smokes weed. Cutting edge stuff.
Columbus and Wichita are having relationship issues, due to Wichita’s fear of commitment, while Tallahassee strongly disapproves of Little Rock’s new boyfriend, the aforementioned stoner musician – so far, so nineties sitcom.
Source: Forbes.com
Of course, there is nothing wrong with silly stereotypes, nothing wrong with dumb comedy, but Double Tap barely attempts to be funny, wasting a brilliant cast with lazy one-liners and outdated material, while the post-apocalyptic setting is played as an afterthought.
Double Tap is a romantic comedy first, zombie movie second, with a cluster of new zombie types introduced, then promptly ignored. Some zombies have mutated, becoming smarter and stronger, some practically unstoppable, but this fails to impact the plot in any way whatsoever.
Throughout most of the runtime, Double Tap doesn’t feel like a zombie movie at all, but a second-rate comedy, the kind which goes straight to streaming and stars Adam Sandler.
Zombie comedies are supposed to be more fun, more funny than this; Shaun of the Dead managed to seamlessly blend the zombies with romantic comedy, and at the time, felt fresh and unique. Zombieland did much the same, on a blockbuster scale.
But there is no point to Double Tap; it’s very much a rehash and throwback to the previous film, repeating jokes about “the rules,” and even referencing the notable Bill Murray joke from the previous film, by simply repeating it again, hoping the memory is enough to spark a reflexive laugh.
Paper-thin characters are tolerable with enough zombie action and post-apocalyptic world-building, but there isn’t any of that here, other than a compound created by hippies who are pro-social justice and anti-gun, and shown to be naive to the danger of the world they live in. Really makes you think.
The title, Double Tap, is a great summary of what to expect from this movie; it’s a reference to the previous film, and also, something that was once new and exciting (how crazy is touchscreen technology?), but is no longer relevant.
Zombieland is a dead franchise, and a more pointless sequel than Men In Black: International; spend your Halloween watching anything else this year.
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