Review #664: 'World War Z' (2013)

They use to stumble around aimlessly, flailing rotting limbs at you pathetically as you casually jogged by, or swung a baseball bat at their heads. But no more. Yes, it seems that in the 45 years of existence that zombies have had on the big screen, they've evolved from shuffling corpses to monsters who pose a real threat. Danny Boyle taught them how to run, and made them more of a virus that we can recognise than cadavers craving brains. So now, zombies have gone global. Not just in popularity, although in that regard they certainly have with the help of AMC's The Walking Dead (amongst others), but they have swept across the globe. And only Brad Pitt can save us.

After about three years in development hell, where there were more script re-writes and cast and crew shuffling about than you could keep up with, World War Z is finally here. Based on Max Brooks' multi-layered and heavily satirical novel that is told from the points of view of many different characters that reside throughout the globe, World War Z was always going to be a hard sell. Zombies are all the rage so naturally Hollywood wants to get their fat fingers on their piece of the pie, meaning World War Z was going to be a blockbuster. So, is it the giant pile of rotting brains that most fans were expecting, proving incoherent due to the many changes made throughout production? Surprisingly, no, and in fact it proves to be almost relentlessly entertaining.

After an array of obligatory news-reel footage foreshadowing the upcoming apocalypse, Gerry Lane (Pitt), a former UN employee, with his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and two daughters are stuck in Philadelphia traffic when the zombie attacks explode on the streets. They are saved when a helicopter ordered by an old friend of Gerry's, Deputy Secretary-General Umutoni (Fana Mokoena), flies them to a U.S. Navy vessel in the Atlantic. Gerry is then persuaded to search for the source of the cure when it is made clear that he and his family will be booted off the vessel if he refuses. His journey will span the globe from South Korea to Jerusalem to, most oddly, Wales.

It's a flimsy plot to say the least. Most zombie computer games have more depth in the story, so we simply follow Gerry as he trots the globe. But where the film fails in story and character development, it makes up for in some outstanding action scenes. We are no longer in one man versus a horde of zombies mode, this is on a global scale, and when they attack, they attack in a ferocious swarm, piling on top of each other to reach massive heights and when they engage, they fling everything they can at their victim. Director Marc Forster, who proved himself inept at action in the Bond dud Quantum of Solace (2008), redeems himself somewhat with some fine set-pieces. The attack in Israel shows off some stunning CGI, but makes sure Gerry doesn't get lost in the mayhem.

Another overwhelming positive is the performance of Brad Pitt, who proves that he can carry a franchise-seeking blockbuster with ease. Even at 50, well past the age you would expect of an action star, he injects his criminally unrecognised acting talents into what is ultimately a thinly-written role, and again shows that there is more to him that simply being really really ridiculously good-looking (to quote Derek Zoolander). The supporting cast either don't get a look in or don't last long enough to make an impact, so Enos, James Badge Dale, Elyes Gabel and Matthew Fox barely register. Fox especially, after having his entire sub-plot cut down to the point that I didn't realise he was in it until the credits rolled.

The ending, which was re-wrote by Drew Goddard, reeks of indecision. The original ending, that saw a huge zombie battle in Moscow's Red Square, was canned, probably due to the political undertones of the setting, and the new, more low-key ending, was introduced to give the movie a more satisfying and coherent climax. While by no means a bad ending, for the film to start out global only to shrink to a sneaky one-on-one final note, it's somewhat of an anti-climax. It adds actors Peter Capaldi and Moritz Bleibtreu and offers some hope with a potential cure, but it just feels like everyone on board had no hope for the film. Given World War Z's commercial success, a sequel has now been greenlit (Pitt saw this as a first of a trilogy), so ultimately, the film did what it came to do. The many relatively minor quibbles aside, this is a success. But a film can surely only survive one troubled production shoot, so the people involved with the sequel will need to clear their heads and step up their game.


Directed by: Marc Forster
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Fana Mokoena, David Morse
Country: USA/Malta

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie