ReviewZombieland: Double Tap film review – zom-com sequel reunites original cast for another enjoyable trip

3/5 stars

Back in 2009, Zombieland cast a sly, wry glance over the surfeit of movies and TV shows about the living dead that have risen from the Hollywood grave these past years. To say that the sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, is more of the same might sound like faint praise.

But with the same cast, same director (Ruben Fleischer) and same writers (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick), it picks up where the original left off – in tone at least – and delivers another highly enjoyable, blood-splattered zom-com. True, the freshness has gone, but not enough to go stale.

Narrated by Jesse Eisenberg’s nervy, nerdy Columbus, the story begins several years on from the apocalypse that brought with it a plague of zombies. Now Columbus, his “never get attached” girlfriend Wichita (Emma Stone), her sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and father-figure Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) are living in the White House, safe-ish from the zombies (which, depending on their capabilities, are nicknamed either “Homer”, “Hawking”, or “Ninja”).

There’s even a strain of super-zombie out there, dubbed the “T-800” after The Terminator. But, really, the story is more interested in the human dynamics after Little Rock disappears – with a pot-smoking pacifist – to head to a gun-free walled commune named Babylon (not apparently inspired by the ancient Hanging Gardens but “that really cool David Gray song”).

Setting out to find the missing Little Rock, Columbus and co pile into a minivan – much to Tallahassee’s disgust who is intent on arriving stylishly for his intend pit-stop at Elvis Presley’s Graceland. Coming along for the ride is Madison (Zoey Deutch), an airhead blonde who has somehow survived the zombie hoards by living in a freezer.