World War Z (2013) **

U.S. Release Date: June 21, 2013

Running Length: 1:56

Rated: PG-13 (Violence)

Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken, Fana Mokoena, Pierfrancesco Favino

Director: Marc Forster

Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan and Drew Goddard & Damon Lindelof, based on a screen story by Matthew Michael Carnahan and J. Michael Straczynski, based on the novel by Max Brooks

 

World War Z is an ambitious novel. It tells the story of a worldwide zombie apocalypse from the first person narrative of several different people relating things as they saw it. While this is not entirely a unique approach to war (M*A*S*H did this a time or two) it is unique to the zombie genre. Summer tent pole films are not the same beast as a television show like M*A*S*H, nor are they as intimate as a novel. They are meant to be a visual feast and that is exactly what this summers World War Z film is. That in and of itself is not a problem. What is a problem is that the film doesn't try to be more than that. It settles for being nothing more than a visual gluttony without having any real heart or logic behind the whole proceedings.

 

The film starts out with the Lane family, Gerry (Brad Pitt), his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and their two daughters. It is hinted at that Gerry spent some time in war torn areas but nothing specific is given out until much later in the show. While out for a drive in the city chaos breaks loose and people start attacking each other, biting at random and spreading a decease that quickly kills their victims and transforms them into zombies. Gerry manages to get himself and his family rescued and transported to a military vessel off in the Atlantic Ocean but is informed that if he wants to keep his family there then he must accompany a team of soldiers and a scientist on a mission to find patient zero in an attempt to find a cure for this plague. This leads him to Korea, then to Jerusalem and finally to the World Health Organization.

 

There is well documented drama going on behind the camera including some last minute editing that make this film seem unfinished. For starters there are several things that come up during the course of the film that seem to be forgotten midway and abandoned by the wayside, things that feel like they should be explained or resolved and yet don't amount to anything. This is a film begging for an extended video release to allow things to be resolved in a way the theatrical version has not. The character of Gerry seems unreal most of the film as well. He makes leaps of deduction that would have left Sherlock Holmes puzzled. He also manages to survive everything while everyone else around him is getting massacred. The only thing that saves him from being a complete wash is the superb performance given by Brad Pitt who makes Gerry the only character not hewn from cardboard.

 

World War Z had the potential to be a bigger film than it ends up being. It cribs much from smaller, more effective films like 28 Day Later. But unlike 28 Days it suffers from too much eye candy and not enough believable story to keep it from collapsing under its own weight. The most effective scenes in the film happen during the final thirty minutes where it takes a sudden minimal approach that is creepy and enjoyable at the same time but it takes too long to get to that point. It also ends abruptly with a few disjointed scenes to wrap things up that are ultimately unsatisfying.

 

This is not the greatest zombie film of all time like it would like it to be. It has too much wrong with it to elevate it to that level. It is watchable, thanks to Pitt, but, aside from the last set piece, it never gets above that which is too bad. It advertises itself as the most expensive zombie movie ever made. 28 Days Later was low budget and proves that more money doesn't make a film better. It just makes it look sharper, something that doesn't always help a movie about zombies.