Monday, April 22, 2013

"Zombieland" Introduces Some Unlikely Survivors: A Pilot Review

Director: Eli Craig.

Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick.

Cast: Kirk Ward, Maiara Walsh, Tyler Ross, and Izabela Vidovic.

Amazon has begun a pilot project for eight potential new shows. Each show is given one episode, which airs on video-on-demand and viewers pick the shows that they would like to see made into a series. One of the first pilots to air is "Zombieland." This potential series is based off the 2009 film. And, writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, have returned from the movie to script this first episode. Only twenty-eight minutes long, the pilot episode for "Zombieland" only has one or two solid scenes and the same number of laughs. This series might be destined to stay on Amazon's back-burner.

The story for the series begins almost right after the events of the film. First, the character Tallahassee (Kirk Ward)is introduced. Some of his backstory is told through a zombie laden flashback. Then, the film focuses on the four characters from the film: Tallahassee, Columbus (Tyler Ross), Wichita (Maria Walsh) and Little Rock (Izabela Vidovic). They are in search of other survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The few living characters they encounter are soon swallowed up by the undead. And, the pilot hardly moves ahead any sense of plot.

The comedy in this initial episode is also a little sparse. This zombie fan only laughed once as a 76 gas station ball rolled over a running zombie. This scene showed some imagination, but only one other scene showed any extraordinary humour. Instead, this twenty-eight minute outing hosted several product placements. If you can spot more than six ad placements, then you are truly paying attention. Similarly, one of the show's gags involves counting how many times the word vagina is spoken by Tallahassee. The crude humour does not really tickle the funny bone and the comedy in this episode was mostly a disappointment.

There is one scene, however, that show's some of the writer's creativity. This short film begins with a sterile scene inside an office building. Two co-workers are doing very little work and they are oblivious to the events outside. The spectacle in a parking lot, shown through a large pane of glass, is truly chaotic. A gardener is fighting for his life against the undead horde and another man is accidentally set alight. These external and internal scenes contrasted well together, until they came together in an explosive fashion. It would be interesting to see if more scenes like this one could be expanded upon in a series.

Overall, "Zombieland" is a middling affair. The comedy is more miss than hit. As well, one of the protagonists is a little too immature to lead this rag-tag group of zombie survivors. The running jokes involving "Best Zombie Kill of the Week" and "Zombie Survival Rules" might not be enough to entertain most viewers. But, a series often needs time to develop into something noteworthy. This viewer would like to see at least two more episodes before sounding any death knell on "Zombieland."

Overall: 6.75 out of 10 (an interesting use of the camera in the first scene, some characters are lackluster, others are a little too awkward to survive a zombie apocalypse, too many ad placements).

Watch the pilot episode for "Zombieland" here and decide if the show is worth turning into a series:

"Zombieland" at Amazon Instant Video

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