Zombieland: Double Tap - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Zombieland: Double Tap



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I can’t believe that it’s really been 11 years since Zombieland came out. I bought the Blu-ray the day of release and have watched it countless times with friends. It’s a roller coaster ride that just is a blast to revisit time and time again, but one that really didn’t need a sequel, in my opinion. Well, it seems really was the case, as the long awaited sequel that no one wanted ends up being drastically inferior to the first one. The zombie craze has been fading fast the last several years, and the zippy humor and witty camaraderie of the 2009 film just doesn’t hold up in this weaker sequel. In fact, the sequel really isn’t that decent of a movie, let alone a sequel. It spans a full 10 minutes longer than the original but feels twice as long, with half the character development. A movie that struggles to justify its existence and worse yet, side lines main characters that really made the first movie so memorable.

The world of Zombieland is still in chaos. After the world has gone completely feet up with zombies overrunning everything, our four heroes from a decade ago are still surviving. The crude and rude Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg) have all moved into the abandoned White House and have been living there for the last several years. Things seem to be going smoothly as Wichita and Columbus have gotten together, and Tallahassee has found a home with the rest of them. However, Little Rock is feeling a bit lonely and wants some company her own age. Not to mention the fact that Columbus decides to propose to Wichita. Spooked and wanting out, Wichita and Little Rock steal a car and head out on their own.

Not surprisingly things go south quickly. Wichita returns to Tallahassee and Columbus with the news that Little Rock stole the car from her and ran off with a nerdy pacifist from Berkeley and is god knows where. Setting out on a cross country trip to Graceland (where Little Rock supposedly went), the three remaining survivors encounter new zombie hunters, as well as a new breed of zombies dubbed the ‘T-800’ that are smarter, faster, and harder kill than ever before. A discovery which could mean the end of mankind if they ever get close to human settlements.

Zombieland: Double Tap is a strange mishmash of a film. The witty humor is still there and the crude language that made the first movie so fun, but it’s over done. The humor and language is all the movie has going for it as the rest of the time is spent jumping from one location to the other with zero character development. The film’s first 30 minutes actually starts out REALLY well, with the same ambiance as the first movie, but once the trio set out on the road trip it just turns into leap frogging from one location and group of people to the next. We certainly meet a bunch of new characters, but most of them are sidelined every 10 minutes. We see Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch and Rosario Dawson in new roles, but they’re mainly caricatures that only get a few minutes of screen time.

To make matters worse, our 4 main characters are undercut at every turn. With Wichita leaving him Columbus has a great opportunity for personal grown, but instead he just falls back on his nerdy persona from the first film and doesn’t go anywhere. The same goes for Tallahassee. He’s got some growth with Little Rock, but almost nothing happens except reliving his wilder days. Emma Stone is solid as Wichita, but poor Abigail Breslin is pretty much written out of her own starring role. The movie has a strange sort of leap frog feel to it as well, with the characters moving at a near ADHD pace from scene to scene before jerkily lurching towards the inevitable finale.




Rating:

Rated R for bloody violence, language throughout, some drug and sexual content




Video:

The 1080p Blu-ray looks stunning with it’s AVC encoded 2.39:1 image, and the digitally sourced master is pristine. The 2K sourced film is really bright and colorful most of the time, with splashes of Madison’s pink mixed in with the dark leather of Tallahassee and Wichita. Earth tones dominate a lot of the outdoor shots, but the little detour at Graceland brings out some great neon lights. Faces are clean and contrast balanced, while up close details are incredibly revealing. There’s some low light digital noise that crops up pretty frequently, and even bleeds into the daylight sequences at time. However it’s not really that noticeable or egregious, still leaving us with an amazingly well done digital picture. Black levels are deep and inky with tons of shadow detail, with the only downside being that low light noise that I mentioned above. All in all, a lovely looking Blu-ray.








Audio:

Sadly we don’t get the DTS:X track found on the 4K UHD, but Sony’s 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is still quite the doozy for being a “basic” 5.1 mix. It’s a powerful track that really amps up the volume with the gunshots and crazy roaring of power vehicles. The Metallica opening track is thunderous and frenetic, pulsating with LFE and great surround activity. The film can get quiet and somber with a front heavy push to it at times, but those times are short and brief, giving way to raucous action that really fills out the whole sound stage. The roaring and mumbling of the crowd of zombies in the third act is really impressive, filling the entire sound stage with murmuring, stomping and yowling of zombies as they try to over run Babylon. Bass is punchy and tight, adding a lot of weight to the gunfights as well as the vehicles (the beast getting run over in the 2nd act was intense). It’s a great mix, but I really wish Sony would put the next gen DTS:X or Atmos tracks on the Blu-ray like Warner and Universal do.







Extras:

• Extended Bloopers & Outtakes
• Alternate & Extended Scenes
-- "The Beast is Gone": Tragedy falls upon Tallahassee.
-- "Van Rides": A vehicle says a lot about a person.
-- "Would of Never Met": Wichita and Columbus discuss what their lives would have been like if not for the zombie apocalypse.
-- "In Bed": Tallahassee's still got it!
-- "Breakfast at Babylon": Cruelty-free breakfast and conversation.
-- "Car Ride": Road trips were made for family bonding.
-- "Melting Gun": Tallahassee says goodbye to another friend.
-- "There's a Party Tonight": I don't want to hang out with a bunch of hippies.
-- "Alternate Proposal": Love is the perfect mix of cool and uncool.
• "The Doppelgangers": From stunts to special effects, this in-depth piece breaks down doppelgangers Flagstaff and Albuquerque and comes complete with interviews, demonstrations, and multiple cameras to snag all the action in their wild scenes.
• "The Rides of Zombieland": From the Beast to Big Fat Death (and a hated Pontiac Trans Sport in between) this short focuses on the rides that get our main characters around Z-land.
• "Rules of Making a Zombie Film": It takes a lot of rules and a lot of people to make a zombie film!
• "Making Babylon": Explore the climactic third act location in the film known in Zombieland as Babylon. Part fortress, part freshman dormitory, Babylon is the safe-place for a generation of misguided peace-loving retro-hippies.
• "New Blood": Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, and Avan Jogia join our zombie-slaying cast.
• "Single Take Doppelganger Fight": Ruben Fleischer shares the camera monitor during the Doppelganger fight sequence.
• Commentary with Director Ruben Fleischer
• "Zombieland Ad Council"

Final Score: ​

Zombieland: Double Tap is the epitome of a movie playing it safe. The entire film is made on referencing the first movie and repeating gags and situations that worked previously. The addition of new character was solid enough, but not enough done with them to really make the sequel exceptionally special. Zoey Deutch’s Madison was about the only really refreshing thing about the movie, even though the main cast wear their roles like comfortable shoes. The audio and video are definitely killer though, and the extras are suprisingly ample. Decent Watch if you enjoyed the first movie.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Written by: Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Thai, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Thai, Vietnamese
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 99 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 21st, 2020

Recommendation: Decent Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I do like Woody so will see it once available on amazon prime/netflix.