Check out the embedded video below for a comprehensive and brief review of World War Z or read the transcribed article below that. I recommend the video though, reading is for the weak.
For a movie that has had such a long and troubled production,
World War Z certainly doesn’t feel like the mess one would expect. Helmed by
Quantum of Solace’s Marc Foster,
World War Z delivers more than it has any right to. Very loosely adapted from the book of the same name it sees the world once again thrown into the brink of a zombie apocalypse and then deals with the sequence of events that could conceivably happen if a global event of this scale were to occur.
Despite the re-shoots, delayed release and rumoured issues between the studio and director this film had me on-board from the get go. The movie opens with Gerry, played handsomely by
Brad Pitt, his family and a grid locked New York city, swarmed by the living dead in a truly heart pounding action sequence. With only a rolled-up magazine between Gerry and being bitten to undeath he escapes, only to have his services called upon by what remains of the UN. He’s charged with being the man responsible for determining the source of the rapidly spreading infection that may lead to a possible cure.
Though burdened with many pointless scenes coupled with unnecessary exposition in the middle,
World War Z is bookended by compelling and intense events, the last of which plays out methodically and brilliantly towards the movies somewhat abrupt ending. The always dependable and youthful
Brad Pitt (who I suspect has a cursed painting of himself aging in the basement) turns in a solid performance. Nothing award winning, but he’s talented enough to take a roll like this and sleepwalk through it coming out the other end having satisfied the audience. With acting!
The better parts of this movie are in the smaller moments, Gerry with his family, Gerry attending to a soldiers missing appendage, Gerry screaming ZOMMMMBBBBIES and firing a machine gun into the air. That bit doesn’t happen, but it does bring me to my next point. All the gun play, the huge action sequences, the CGI zombie swarms, these are the least interesting moments. In fact they’re quite jarring. Having the
Contagion style realism the film appears to be going for melded with a CGI swarm of zombies scaling a wall like nobody’s business doesn’t really work. In fact, the best action sequence again, is the finale, a low key affair with minimal special effects that’s high on tension and like the rest of the film surprisingly low on gore.
It could rightly be argued that the movie has its nonsensical moments. Brad Pitt’s never ending stream of good fortune as he Carmen Sandiego’s himself across the globe being one. Or having the USA go from normal functioning society to having men attempt to rape a woman in the middle of a well-lit and crowded supermarket in a matter of hours being another. Or how a person with a newly severed hand can scale a twenty foot ladder in three seconds flat. But you know what? None of this really bothered me. This is what I consider a solid meat and potatoes thriller, with certainly more going for it than not.
Will it bump
Man Of Steel from the top of the box office? Not a chance. But it’s a good enough, somewhat clever in parts zombie flick (that actually uses the word zombie) that for some reason has
Matthew Fox in it in a role that will make you go,
was that Matthew Fox and is so why is Matthew Fox in this? He does almost nothing by the way. He’s barely in it! Less than
Party Of Five minutes. You could even say that he’s
LOST among the rest of the supporting cast. Not to mention the way he…
Speed Racer…no…that doesn’t work. Honestly I’m just trying to pad this out cause I’ve run out of stuff to say and this feels a little short.
So
World War Z. It’s okay and you should probably see it or not see it. And I firmly stand by that conviction! But what are your own thoughts on
World War Z or the state of zombie movies in generally? Do you think there’s still life left (pun intended) in this seemingly ever popular genre? Let us know by sounding off in the usual place! Thanks everyone, enjoy your weekend.