Zombieland

Around elementary school age, I used to love playing with action figures. I used to spend hours pretending I would be the lone ninja GI Joe superhero spy who would come into the fray of soldiers, ninja turtles, and miscellaneous robots to save the day. I imagined being one man versus 1000, and the enemy never stood a chance. That’s because I am awesome, and my soldier could withstand any bad guy ninja in the pack.

Yep, unstoppably awesome.

My imagination about saving the day has always caught up with me at each stage of development. As a teenager, it was me pretending to walk down the hallway and ask out my dream girl, who secretly was in love with me. You see, unbeknownst to me, she had been admiring my awesome haircut, hardcore music related t-shirt, and my sense of humor. When I was on stage with my band, it wasn’t the reality of the crowd watching, it was the hope of that one person watching me.

In fantasy and imagination, no one stops you except for yourself. You can only imagine things that you understand. Often, these fantasies come from a place of wanting something you aren’t. Perhaps it was that in playing with my action figures as the lone wolf soldier, I was enjoying pretending to be invincible and in control. However, in reality I was a really anxious and socially nervous kid who dealt with a fair amount of being made fun of by my peers. Playing was way to feel cool, comfortable, and in control of my environment. Imagination and fantasy are why play therapy works so well with children, because children project onto the playing what is going on in their uncensored minds.

“Zombieland” is the ultimate in male escapist fantasy. It opens with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg from “The Squid and the Whale”) giving an overview of four simple rules to survive the world, or as the world is now known, “Zombieland.” As Columbus narrates, we see limbs flying, tendons being chewed on, flesh gushing, and all manner of zombie style gore - much of which is played for humor as opposed to terror.

Very quickly, Columbus meets Tallahassee (all characters go by the name of their home town) and off they go en route to their various destinations. While en route, the run into Little Rock and Wichita, two sister’s who are headed to a California amusement park. Columbus is immediately smitten with Wichita, and the chase is on for love…and freedom from zombies.

The story is told through the eyes of Columbus. He is your everyday lovable nerd who loves his World of Warcraft and Code Red Mountain Dew. He lacks social skills, particularly with females. The movie watches him try to be the hero in the midst of an ultimate tough guy, tiny teen, and gorgeous gal. The movie is about him, through him and by him.

It is his fantasy.

In fact “Zombieland” is every male geek’s fantasy. You know, the guy who obsessively plays videogames, is socially awkward, and has an insanely deep knowledge of all things safe (hence the rules in the film)? This is the guy who has his fun imagining slaying dragons, fighting on battlefields, and yes – saving the world. He imagines being cool while retaining his geek sense of self and makes friends with other cool people. Most importantly, he imagines getting the girl. At the end of it all, if the whole world was decaying and dying – he would survive it, show incredible courage, save the world, and get the girl.

It’s the little things that matter in life.

“Zombieland” is this male fantasy. I get the impression that the writer was making his autobiography of the future, only told through the lens of the past as his teen self. One could even argue that the character of Tallahassee is a projection of his inner fearless self. Consider that the tagline in “Zombieland” is “It’s time to nut up or shut up.” So what are the ladies supposed to do (because you know, women don’t have nuts)? In the film the women are clever con artists, but even at the end, they are transformed into damsels in distress and it’s up to Mr. Geek to save them and get his kiss of a reward. It is what every pimply faced teen dreams of accomplishing.

And yet, I really enjoyed “Zombieland.” I connected with it as a fun escapist movie that features plenty of jump scares, humor, action, and gore. It connected with the geeky male in me (there is plenty of it too). I liked the story, which had some real dynamic, emotional depth and character development in the most unlikely of places. I thought that Woody Harrelson was cast before the movie was actually written because he so embodies Tallahassee. The film had great one-liners, and the lines were delivered by actors who were fun to watch and listen to.

As a film, I have a couple criticisms. Some things are convenient, like how the protagonists first meet. Additionally there are some pacing issues. It starts off fast and loud, winds down and then ends somewhere in the middle. It wasn’t the finale it should have been. I would love to have seen some big explosions to close it out. Additionally, the rules idea was clever and set up well, but not carried through as consistently as could have been. Still, it was easy to forgive in a movie that was as much about giving you some scares and lots of laughs as it was about telling a story.

I read somewhere that “Zombieland” was America’s response to the completely awesome British film “Shaun of the Dead.” In many ways it is, though this film feels more polished – for better and for worse. I ultimately liked “Shaun” more, but that is not meant to be a knock to “Zombieland.” They both are really fun, entertaining movies that aim to do just that – entertain. It will connect with something in male’s more, but everyone will laugh at least once.

3.5/5