World War Z

WORLD WAR Z

Review by John Wood

Zombies have been quite possibly the most used horror device in the history of cinema, especially in the last 20 years. So much so that it actually starts getting hard to tell apart the good and the bad in the genre. World War Z does everything it can to reach for greatness and to be one of the best in the genre but stops itself far too soon and this makes it quite a long slog.

The movie starts off quite intelligently, the usual credits are in place but rather than simply waving through the names, the audience gets all the news stories and exposition necessary to get the film started. The audience then gets to meet Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family briefly before they all come under attack by zombies in a following scene. It really is that fast. The opening introduction of the Zombie takeover is visceral and intense and the film rides on this steam for a little while. This is until Gerry gets forced away from the family to work for the United Nations to find a cure or at the very least a reason for why the infection stated. What follows is a globetrotting adventure for Earth’s salvation and it’s here where it jumps through the typical end of the world narrative hoops.

Only one in focus and different colours, the mise-en-scene is hilarious.
HE IS THE HERO! GET IT!?

It’s a shame we spend so much time on Brad Pitt, as there are some fantastic glimpses of how the world is surviving through this ordeal. Whether it’s a cop throwing away his job for some food, or a family deciding to barricade themselves, we get small snippets of the true potential that this kind of narrative can present. But glimpses are all we get before Brad Pitt becomes the hero of the world and runs through the paces. The problem is not that they went down this line, but rather that it is so mundane and forgettable that it should be nothing more than a big budget Friday night movie on TV, rather than a film with lofty ambitions.

While I have not read the book the film is based on, the multi-character narrative concept I have heard about would have been perfect for a TV show, a film to follow that could be diluted. However with the lack of care for the family at the middle of the film, I couldn’t help but feel that with some tweaking the character story of Gerry Lane was small enough to include another two more vignettes and we could have had a real World War Z film.

The special effects are also pretty weak.

The major offence of the film was the lack of payoff, the film’s trailers point at some massive blockbuster moments but the final act is a disappointing letdown that really feels more of an obligation then a natural progression of the film.

The Hollywood summer blockbuster season is usually full of brainless action films, and usually it can be a lot of fun, this movie just has the brainless.

RATING: FIZZLE