Back then the thought of a reality TV star becoming president was laughable. The idea that a country would tear itself apart simply because a bunch of billionaire want to avoid tax scrutiny simply absurd.
But we are where we are, eh?
And while no one was champing at the bit for either of those hypothetical situations to become reality, we're not totally sure that anyone was signing petitions or taking to the streets to find out what happened to Columbus, Little Rock, Wichita and Tallahassee.
But hey, we've been wrong twice already....
So ten years on we're back in Z-Land — and because these guys know what they're doing, we pick up the action ten years on.
Little Rock isn't so little, Wichita and Columbus are attempting to be a couple and Tallahassee is... well... ten years older.
And that's pretty much it.
Then Little Rock goes AWOL and the gang have to hit the road to get her back, fighting zombies as they go.
If you saw the first one, you know this is done with equal parts gore and hilarity.
There's no wheel that needs reinventing here.
Which, going in to this, was the big fear.
This first film should not have worked as well as it did. It was geeky, gawky and basically just a few gags linking zombie splattery. With added fun graphics.
And it was great.
So, the hope was that nothing would be tinkered with too much.
And delightfully, it hasn't been.
Yes, the main cast (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) are all bigger, more established stars than they were before — plus we now have an Oscar and three nominations on screen.
And the additions to the team (Zoey Deutch, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch) all hold their own and add to the fun.
Hell, even Wilson manages not to be too annoying.
And that's really the strength of this film.
It's meant to be fun. It's meant to be quirky. It's meant to have zombies getting splatted everywhere.
And that's what you get.
It's rips along at a cracking pace, doesn't overstay its welcome, and there's no flab on the bones. It's a tight ride and there are no passengers.
OK, maybe Berkley, but even he isn't too annoying.
The other master card Double Tap pulls off is remembering its own history and heritage. A call back to a joke from ten years ago is a brave move, but the writers remembered it and they trust that we do too.
And they're right.
As we may have hinted at the start of this waffle, the world is not the place it was in 2009 — and we need laughter more than ever.
So it's awesome that not only does Zombieland 2 deliver the laughs in spades, but you're still chuckling about things long after you've got home.
Ten years may be a long gap between films, but in this case it was worth it.
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