Face-Off: Zombieland vs. Zombieland: Double Tap

Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock have been together for ten years, but now that Little Rock has grown up from a tween to a young woman she's hoping to get more out of life beyond hanging out with the same three people and killing zombies. When she runs off with a hippie, her family – blood and otherwise – has to track her down to a pacifist community called Babylon. Along the way Columbus and Wichita deal with relationship issues, they meet other survivors, and they discover the existence of mutated zombies that are harder to kill. There's a bit more going on and more characters, but at its core the sequel is still a simple road trip story, and it's still a lot of fun.

Ten years have passed, but Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock are all as we remembered them – just a little older. Little Rock was a pain in the first movie and continues to be a pain, setting the story in motion with her desire to “leave the nest” and meet other people. Columbus and Wichita have been in a relationship since the end of the first film, but they're hitting a rough patch now. And Tallahassee… well, he just wants to achieve the Zombie Kill of the Year. Little Rock's antics pay off for him more than anyone, because he gets to check out some Elvis memorabilia in Memphis and meets a woman who seems to be perfect for him. Comedy sequels can have trouble recapturing the magic of character interactions, and can even fail to make characters as fun to be around a second time. DOUBLE TAP is a sequel that gets it right.

Bill Murray gets another epic cameo in the film, although it doesn't come along until the end credits. It's not quite as good as his first cameo, but it offers the sight of him killing zombies while Kenny Loggins' “I'm Alright” from CADDYSHACK plays on the soundtrack, so that's awesome. Avan Jogia is perfectly douchey as the guy Little Rock goes off with, Rosario Dawson has a fun role as a potential love interest for Tallahassee, Luke Wilson shows up to butt heads with Tallahassee, and Thomas Middleditch is kind of irritating as a Columbus doppelgänger. The best new addition is Zoey Deutch, who is hilarious as Madison, an airhead who gets between Columbus and Wichita.

Reese and Wernick returned to write more fun dialogue for the characters, and here they got some help from Dave Callaham. I didn't feel that ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP was as funny as its predecessor, but it's still a delight to watch Columbus and Tallahassee bounce off each other. Emma Stone was able to be more amusing as Wichita this time around, dealing with the love triangle she finds herself in with Columbus and the dimwitted Madison. Speaking of her, Zoey Deutch provides more laughs than anyone in this film, her demeanor and line deliveries as Madison are fantastic. Then Bill Murray brings brilliance to the end credits.

DOUBLE TAP also gives us some zombie action right up. In fact, the Columbia logo even comes alive to dispatch zombies, then the film jumps into another Metallica-fueled, zombie-fighting title sequence. It does feel like there are longer stretches between moments of action in this film than there were in the first one, but there are a few standout sequences. Our heroes mow down zombies while attempting to acquire an RV; there's a battle in a hotel that is presented as if it's one continuous take (I'm assuming there are hidden cuts); and it builds up to CGI mayhem involving a zombie horde, a monster truck, and the Great American Zombie Jump. I still prefer that Pacific Playland sequence, though.