There is an important scene midway through the first “Zombieland” movie that I think sheds light on it’s sequel’s failings. In it, our group of survivors, having formed an uneasy truce with each other, make a pit stop at an abandoned kitsch gift shop and joyously destroy all the knicknacks together in order to let off steam. It’s a very small scene, but it solidifies our main characters as friends. They all live in a brutal world that has taken everything from them, but for the first time, instead of acting hardened and untrusting, they team up to destroy things together and find an elusive happiness in it. This sequence, while so small it is not even mentioned in the Wikipedia plot summary of the first “Zombieland” film, contains within it more depth, comedy, and memorability than the entirety of “Zombieland: Double Tap.”

In “Zombieland: Double Tap,” professional survivors Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), Tallehasee (Woody Harrelson) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) live together in the extravagant ruins of the White House as a family. However, Wichita gets cold feet after Columbus proposes to her, and Little Rock is tired of Tallahassee acting like an overbearing father, so the pair leave the group without warning. Unfortunately, Little Rock wants too much freedom and runs off with a pacifist hippy named Berkeley (Avan Jogia) to live in a peaceful comune that’s safe from the zombie hoards. Columbus, Wichita and Tallehasee must hit the road once again to find her and resolve their group’s issues so they can be a family once again… except… they were already a family. That was the entire point of the first movie. But 10 minutes in, Wichita and Little Rock ditch the group with no intention of returning. It’s not only out of character, but it leaves the movie repeating all the same story beats of the survivors realizing the importance of friendship, resulting in a feeble retread without the charm and impact of its predecessor. 

The “Zombieland” films are not deep character pieces, but they are character-based. All the tension and comedy and satisfaction comes from watching these different characters interacting with each other and growing together as a team. The first film indulged in grotesque zombie killing, but it also had genuine moments, like when the other characters realized that Tallehasee had a son that died. The movie had pathos, and that pathos is why we cared about anything on screen. “Double Tap” feels hollow in comparison, with toned down and less emotionally true versions of established characters. It would take me around five seconds to write a version of this story that doesn’t betray all the development our heroes have undergone. One where our character’s don’t seem to reset to factory settings. One where Tallehasee’s parental relationship to Little Rock is mined for pathos and comedy and Columbus and Witchita’s relationship troubles ring true. One where Tallehasee isn’t given a needless cardboard love interest whose purpose is to bamboozle the audience into thinking that there is some cohesive, compelling, emotional throughline to this butterfly kiss of a zombie film.  But I’m a lowly critic, not a professional screenwriter who is paid to make worse versions of existing characters and plots.

“Double Tap” also feels like it has less of the rude but endearing quips and character dialogue exchanges that were the comedic fuel of its predecessor. There are some good character based jokes and exchanges sprinkled about, but they are fewer and farther between. On the whole, the humor feels tired and listless. The comedic center piece of this film, the scene where Tallehasee and Columbus meet survivors who are basically their mirror images and squabble with them is funny for a moment but drags on at a geologic time scale, ending with little ceremony. What’s worse is that it feels like there are a lot of comedic setups that are never latched on to. 

The intro of “Double Tap” establishes that there are multiple types of zombies now, and some are faster, some are smarter, some are harder to kill. Unfortunately, the movie never exploits its own set up, and the heroes ultimately just mow these new zombies down like the blood balloons they are. I can imagine a loud mouth like Tallehasee having to sneak around a hoard of sound seeking undead, or an anxious clean freak like Columbus having to kill a giant gross slime filled zombie that explodes. These are hand wrapped comedic set ups that would have made for memorable action scenes as well. Instead the audiences time is whittled away with the other mirror survivor scene, and with the “comedic relief” Madison, a survivor character whose gimmic is that she is vapid and dumb, a running joke that got old when the first trailer came out two months ago. “Zombieland: Double Tap” is a domino effect of mediocrity. The characters are lazy, so the comedy is lazy, so the action is lazy. The first film hit like a brass knuckles punch to the gut, and this one is like a gentlemanly slap in the face with a doily. There are parts that are funny, and there are parts that are memorable, but ultimately, it only serves to make the original “Zombieland” look even better.