Zombieland Review

I'm going to let you know in advance, that I understand this film came out in theaters a while ago, but also the DVD/Bluray was just released today so I thought I would post a review of the film.

For those of you that don't know this movie is about Zombies, and they are kicking butt in terms of killing lots of people. However, there are a few survivors left and this film follows 4 of them as they make their journey across the US.

Story:

This film is very straight forward, and basic in terms of the plot. 4 survivors trying to live long enough because they want to get to a safe zone at an amusement park. Well they think its safe, and some hijinx happen between the characters on the journey. I'm not going to ruin the plot, but lets just say that there is some good times to be had.

Characters:

I think this is the strongest part of the movie. Woody Harrelson is great at the redneck zombie killing machine. His one liners and confidence has you rooting for him in most situations. I think Woody takes the movie and makes it better than if he wasn't in it. He fits the role perfectly.

Jesse Eisenberg, was very believable as being the scared weakling of the group. He does grow up and I liked how they showed that throughout the plot. Even his major moment was done very well to show his pinnacle of change.

Emma Stone, was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't heard of her before this movie, probably because I didn't see Superbad. (I know. Bad me. I'll get to it.) For her character I felt that she did the strong woman pretty well. She has her moments where she shows real heart, which was a nice contrast to how we meet her.

Abigail Breslin, did very well. She grew up in the role as she played off perfectly with Emma in terms of their banter and dialogue. I think the way that her character is in conflict with what she wants and what she knows is right was very well portrayed.

This movie isn't a straight up zombie film, which I'm glad it wasn't because there are so many of those that do it better, but this one did something that hadn't been done before. It was more of a road trip film with zombies in the backdrop. Don't get me wrong, their is plenty of zombie scares when they happen, but they don't happen as frequently as they could have if they were going for a straight horror film.

I have heard people compare this to "Shaun of the Dead," because it is a comedy, but I disagree. There are comedic elements in both of them, but Zombieland works with it more between the characters and their interactions, while "Shaun of the Dead" does it more in reaction to the Zombies. Granted they do both cross into each other's territory, and both films are great for what they are. I preferred "Zombieland", mainly for the greater scares that happened, but that's just me.

Overall I give this film a 4.5/5 but I'll be the first one to say that I'm slightly partial because I'm a huge zombie movie fan. Anyways, what do you guys think of the film, am I on, or off?