Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
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7 films that influenced Zombieland: Double Tap
What critics say influenced Zombieland: Double Tap
“Double Tap” is the follow-up to Fleischer’s popular 2009 postapocalyptic comedy “Zombieland,” which joined 2004’s “Shaun of the Dead” in the zombie subgenre that added wit and sight gags to the usual slate of undead gore.
Director Ruben Fleischer's original 2009 comedy came along at the ideal time, as the zombie genre was just reaching its modern peak — a few years after Shaun of the Dead, a year after the zombie first-person shooter Left 4 Dead, and just before The Walking Dead would become a television phenomenon.
Even zom-com classic “Shaun of the Dead” recycled the drawn-out routine where characters take a long time to catch on to the fact that an infected loved one is transforming into a flesh-eater too.
Shaun of the Dead (arguably the king of the subgenre) was a story about taking responsibility and maturing, that just happened to take place during a zombie apocalypse.
Ruben Fleischer's film wasn't the first zombie comedy, or the best one (I'd nominate Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead), but it was good fun and did decent box office.
Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch’s appearance as conspicuous mirrors of Harrelson and Eisenberg is a gag that starts out tired and obvious, grows into something very funny and absurd, before then dragging on too long and ending in an obvious punch line; Shaun of the Dead was wise to keep this gag to a brief aside.
Mostly, he takes pot shots at a ditsy blonde named Madison (Zoey Deutch), who oscillates between sidesplitting and annoying, recalling Isla Fisher’s “stage-five clinger” in “Wedding Crashers” (2005).
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who wrote not just the original but also the two Deadpool films, have a deep reverence towards genre tropes but it never stops them from revelling in their irreverence.
The whole thing was a lark—a stepping-stone on the road to future success for everyone, including director Ruben Fleischer (“Venom”) and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the “ Deadpool ” franchise).
The irreverent horror-comedy was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and directed by Ruben Fleischer, who have gone on to work on wildly popular comic book movies Deadpool and Venom, respectively.
Back in 2009, director Ruben Fleischer – together with future Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – scored a hit with comedy horror Zombieland, which featured Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as an unlikely quartet who teamed up to survive in a zombie apocalypse.
It’s also not really a surprise that director Ruben Fleischer (if there is one good thing to come from the inexplicable box office success of the disaster that is Venom, it might be him presumably getting more confidence from Sony and the support to satiate fans with this sequel) and irreverent Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had the itch to give us this double-tap; the characters are just too damn fun to be around, all containing lightning chemistry with one another.
It's as if screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who since penning 2009's Zombieland had two money-minting adventures with Deadpool (they're joined for this sequel by co-writer Dave Callaham), hope some of that film's wink-and-nudge magic will rub off here.
These films don’t have the bleak tone and joyless world of The Walking Dead , World War Z , and 28 Days Later .
From Shaun of the Dead to World War Z, the undead have become an enduring and even beloved part of our culture.
For four years after its release, Zombieland was the highest-grossing zombie-related movie in the US. ( World War Z knocked it off its perch in 2013.)
In the 10 years since the release of the first Zombieland , there has been The Walking Dead , World War Z and the relatively tame rom-com Warm Bodies , to name just a few zombie-themed releases.
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Zombieland: Double Tap is not the best zombie movie of this decade (Train to Busan takes that crown).
The bottom didn’t quite fall out for the genre—there are still good zombie flicks to be had, like 2016’s Train to Busan —but superheroes and cinematic world-building are the ultimate currency.
Thankfully, Zombieland: Double Tap is not guilty of this — and that is what makes it a potent The Walking Dead antidote.
Nope, director Ruben Fleischer returns with the whole crew shockingly intact for Zombieland: Double Tap, a film that does little to reinvigorate the genre, but still delivers plenty of laughs and zombie gore to merit a look.
Ten years after the surprisingly spirited and charming Zombieland (before there was ever a “The Walking Dead” TV series), director Ruben Fleischer (Venom, 30 Minutes or Less) and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick made the actors’ stars (and schedules) finally align to show us just how much this unlikely family is working in perfect harmony…or not.
The sequel, directed by Venom’s Ruben Fleischer, sees the original quartet from 2009 — Columbus, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) — enjoying the zombie apocalypse version of domestic bliss.
The whole thing was a lark—a stepping-stone on the road to future success for everyone, including director Ruben Fleischer (“Venom”) and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the “ Deadpool ” franchise).
The irreverent horror-comedy was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and directed by Ruben Fleischer, who have gone on to work on wildly popular comic book movies Deadpool and Venom, respectively.
It’s also not really a surprise that director Ruben Fleischer (if there is one good thing to come from the inexplicable box office success of the disaster that is Venom, it might be him presumably getting more confidence from Sony and the support to satiate fans with this sequel) and irreverent Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had the itch to give us this double-tap; the characters are just too damn fun to be around, all containing lightning chemistry with one another.
Then, it launched Ruben Fleischer into his own directorial career, making classics such as 30 Minutes or Less , Gangster Squad , and of course, Venom .