Zombieland: A Great Video Game Movie

Up front I need to say one thing: I stopped watching the Tigers-Twins game last night midway through the epic 10th inning to go see this movie. I was lucky enough that I could still follow the gamecast over my iPhone during the previews, until my Tigers lost that is. Bah, there is always next next year.

With that said, I had a bit of distaste in my mouth and was slightly grumpy when the movie began. I needed a pick-me-up, a quick fix to a dreary, rainy evening. Having just played through and loved several stages of Nazi Zombies in CoD, Zombieland seemed like an obvious choice of a flick to see. My expectations revolved around the film being filled with exploding zombie heads, some comedy, and a decent plot to tie it all together.

I was not disappointed.

While not related to a gaming property per se, like District 9 before it the film contains many characteristics of what we know and love about modern gaming. Zombieland is, at its very least, a great Left 4 Dead scenario. Four different heroes brought together under strenuous circumstances are pitted against zombies of all different types: sexy girl zombies, heffers, and clowns are all included. The video game novelty of on-the-fly weapon switching is there, as is the hilarious exploding zombie head.

The movie has a fun, loose flow to it. It doesn’t force the characters to survive, or to save humanity. Their only goal is to get to where they are going, forming bonds along the way. The comparison to games is intentional (although not necessarily to L4D): full of action, story when needed, and slightly over-the-top. All of this is wrapped in a conscious effort of the film to be self-aware. The main character, Columbus, keeps a “rules” list for surviving in a zombie world. The reference to “violent video games” is a quotable reason why the youngest hero is able to shoot a zombie with no remorse (to survive).

The “team” of heroes was extremely likable, almost to the point where the film seemed like a multiplayer campaign being played out with real actors who interacted well together. Even the somewhat-forced love story is taken in stride as if the characters know that this is what normally comes with the zombie survival territory. Zombieland had me itching to play L4D afterwards.

For the second time this year, an enjoyable video game movie was made without a video game property to be based on. It has left me wondering if this is Hollywood’s way of hitting the genre without necessarily being tied to the cliches associated with video game movies — having to rehash game history for new viewers and forcing key game identifiers into a story come to mind. Video games often try to be like movies, and transferring a property like that back onto the silver screen is like making a copy of a copy: it never turns out well. Perhaps creating movies that are well-scripted gaming scenarios is the correct way to go.

Regardless of all of that, Zombieland is an exceptionally fun film that plays out like a great game: you know what’s coming next but love experiencing it anyways.