Apocalyptic-porn zombie flick ‘World War Z’ stars the housewife’s favourite buff actor Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former soldier who, through going about his daily business, ends up in the middle of a zombie infestation, escaping from the infected with his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and daughters Constance and Rachel. Eventually seeking rescue thanks to Thierry Umutoni, a figure from his past who is now helping the US military tackle the outbreak, he finds himself called upon to find the source of the infection and help save the world.
‘World War Z’ is based on a book of the same name but apparently is a very loose adaptation, but I can’t comment on how closely it follows it as I’ve not read it. Judging the film purely on its merits this is the best zombie film we’ve had since the brilliant ’28 Days Later’. Now, I’m sure there will be those of you reading this that scoff at it being a zombie film as the antagonists run rather than shuffle, but if we’re being honest the rage-infected creatures of the aforementioned ’28 Days Later’ are always more scary than the slow, lumbering types so get over yourself. ‘World War Z’ does throw in the traditional type too, though, to keep the purists happy.
‘World War Z’ feels much more epic than your average zombie film and its scale really fits the picture, taking the concept established in ’28 Days Later’ and making it feel more global. It starts pretty sedated, feeling like it’s going to tackle zombies in the same way ‘Signs’ tackled an international alien invasion, with background news reports and a strong, informative opening credits sequence that expresses the scale of the problem in an easy to understand way. But, getting the cheesy car sequence out of the way in the first ten minutes – thankfully, as it’s being an overused trailer for the last twelve months, the film quickly bounces into the action at almost ‘Godzilla’ speeds of let’s-get-into-the-plot. There’s no ‘Cloverfield’-esque opening here.
The opening action scene is brilliantly managed with the CGI and large set-pieces handled brilliantly, and it feels like how a genuine zombie invasion would happen. The opening thirty minutes are pretty tense with some narrow escapes and darkly lit corridors. I’d heartily advice avoiding the film in 3D – my sense of timing meant I ended up having to don glasses to see it – as the film is dark and gloomy in parts and even more so behind dark shades, and the 3D effect is pointless and very much underutilised in the film.
The sense of panic is well captured and ‘World War Z’ captures the realism of a zombie invasion as well as you could and it does feel like they’ve made an effort to make it feel more global than the American-centric affairs we usually get in this type of picture. We get a long scene in Israel, one of the highlights of the piece, with some cracking use of CGI and a feeling that no one has yet truly found a solution. A key death just before this point, though, seemed too quick leaving me scratching my head as how they truly died.
The film continues along balancing plot with set pieces, with breadcrumbs of hints spread through the film of how the infected could be defeated. An action segment aboard a plane employs some jumps in a film that, considering the subject matter, doesn’t really employ too many jumpy moments, but the finale is a tense and well executed final third. Much has been made of the ending being re-filmed; I’m not sure what the original plan was but the solution works in the context of the film, though it does have a different vibe to the very wide-angled previous hour and a half. This last section does, though, employ some good tension, and is only let down by a half-hearted ending which seems to set up for some sort of sequel through the narration even though the plot strands seem neatly resolved.
‘World War Z’ isn’t going to win any awards as a masterpiece of cinema but it’s one of the most watchable films I’ve seen recently, and the two hour running time shoots by. Pitt is a strong lead and carries the film, though no one really stands up next to him as a stand-out companion due to him chopping-and-changing his travelling companion regularly. The music from Muse suits the atmosphere well and captures the mood, and the CGI of the zombie hordes looking impressive.
The invasion is handled realistically within the movie with the opening justaposition of news bulletins and trivial reports balanced next to each other setting up everyone’s reactions, and there are no real flights of fancy with the plot. The zombies themselves are particularly creepy in close up, and the images of them throwing themselves at helicopters and people stand out. I would have just hoped for a stronger final act and less of an ending that just sort of peters out, but it does better in the plotting stakes than a lot of recent films – ‘Man of Steel’ for example – in making the drama more believable without resorting to mindless CGI action pieces without any heart.
Not a particular scary zombie flick but plenty of tense moments and the sense of scale is handled well. With a stronger ending, would have grabbed another mark.
6.5/10
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