Dir. Marc Forster
116 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Watch Trailer
It's no secret that World War Z has had a difficult journey on its way to theaters. Brad Pitt, assuming the roles of both actor and producer on the film, wanted to make this a big new franchise for himself, but reportedly there was a lot of off-set drama between Pitt and the director Marc Forster, the budget got way out of control, and the entire ending, including a 12-minute action sequence was scrapped then re-written and re-shot to make more sense (they got Damon Lindelof of all people to change the ending...because his track record of endings is real solid...). And all that for a film that completely disregards its source material - a critically acclaimed novel from Max Brooks which to my knowledge has no connection to this movie. The cards weren't exactly stacked in its favor, but somehow the final product doesn't feel like a pasted together mess. World War Z is a serviceable, but completely forgettable, horror-action film that managed to overcome its production issues.
The highly regarded book is considered by many to be "un-filmable" because it chronicles the zombie outbreak after-the-fact through vignetted journal entries. The film throws that whole aspect away to pretty much feature Brad Pitt as the action hero. Pitt, a former UN investigator, his wife and two daughters are caught in the middle of the chaos, and Pitt pretty much travels the world in search for an answer or a cure. The action kicks off right away and the film doesn't really let go until a big tonal shift in the last act, which turns into more of an intimate thriller. There's not much to talk about in terms of plot because it's all subservient to whatever cheap thrill is coming up next. The film isn't boring but it's meaningless.
Despite the flatlined characters and story, what sets World War Z apart from anything we've ever seen in the over-saturated zombie genre is the incredible scope. This is the most expensive zombie picture ever made, and the size and scale of the outbreak is really impressive. With what looks like a mixture of CGI and a boatload of extras, the film truly does capture what a zombie outbreak would look like. Out of context in the trailers, the effects looked cheesy (with the whole "zombie wall" and all), but they do work on the big screen in the groove of the story. Unlike the cheaper zombie films or shows we're used to, there are many helicopter and crane shots that show the infected running around like mobs of tiny ants (or virus molecules), and it's refreshing to see something in a zombie movie we've never seen before. The biggest problem though is the PG-13 rating, which results in all the [bloodless] deaths being cut away from or happening off screen. You really do feel the rating here, and while the action looks good, it feels very vanilla.
One of the most interesting facets of the book was its geopolitical ideas of how we would react to an outbreak, but the movie features none of that. Sure Brad Pitt gets to travel around the world, but it pretty much feels like an A to B to C, video game-style situation. There is nothing thought-provoking about how the world would react to this virus or how Pitt handles the situation. The film pretty much goes the generic expected route every time. Even the ending, which I won't give away, had room to explore an interesting idea of how to cure the virus, but goes nowhere with it, examining it only at face value.
It may sound like I'm ripping into it, but I did enjoy the movie even though it's easy to pick apart. The action was handled really well and it was filled with cool little moments here and there (like how Brad Pitt figures out how to "time" the infection), but ultimately it adds up to nothing, it says nothing about politics or human nature, and it's filled with dumb and implausible conveniences and illogicalities. I can forgive most of its issues because it was an entertaining summer action movie that visually brought some new life to the undead, but considering the source material it should've and could've been something really special.
Rating: B-
Bonus - Additional Reading
If you're interested in the whole behind-the-scenes debacle with World War Z, Vanity Fair ran a great article going over all the problems the film faced upon release (including how Damon Lindelof got involved).
You can read the story here.
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