Review World War Z

by. Joe Moss
★★

OK…so… Marc Forster’s (Quantum of Solace, Stranger than Fiction, Monster’s Ball) “World War Z,” starring Brad Pitt, is Hollywood’s attempt to hone in on the massive Zombie craze started a few years ago and kept going with the huge success of “The Walking Dead” television series. The only problem is that we have seen a variation of this plot before—and better done—11 years ago in Danny Boyle’s sleeper hit “28 Days Later.”

The basic premise of the film is easy. In the not so distant future (or maybe now…it is never specified) we are shown the family life of Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a former UN investigator who has retired early to spend time with his family in the wake of many worldwide catastrophes. He is driving is family to an outing (we are never told where they are going) that takes them through the heart of Philadelphia. Where all hell breaks loose on the city while they are—surprise—in a massive traffic jam. Brad Pitt and his wife Karin (Miriella Enos) must fight through the ensuing craziness developing as “walking dead” creatures begin to ravage the cityscape. They escape in an RV to make it to Trenton. While on the way, Brad Pitt is called by the Undersecretary General of the UN, Thierry (Fana Mokoena), where he is told they will evacuate him if he can make it to the morning.

            Sound familiar yet…. Just wait…there’s more. Brad then is trafficked with his family to a ship 200 miles off the coast of the US where he is given the ultimatum. Help the UN find the cause of the pandemic, or you and your family will be dropped back in Philadelphia immediately. Hmmmmm. So what does Brad do? I am sure you are all waiting with baited breath? He signs up for duty and proceeds with a small team—one other PhD from Harvard and 4 Navy Seals (who make it a few more scenes into the film)—into the wasteland of Korea, Jerusalem, and Wales to track down the cause of the zombie disease.

            While the plot is tired and doesn’t create much in the way of NEWNESS to the zombie craze of the last five years, I do have to give it to Brad Pitt. He does manage to carry the entire film by himself which says a lot about his screen presence and his ability to draw empathy from an audience--even though we are not given much in the way of character information other than what I previously mentioned. Additionally, while not a huge fan of zombie movies, I did find this film very entertaining and easy to watch. It was wrought with suspense and Marc Forster as well as the film editing duo of Roger Barton (The Grey, A-Team) and Matt Cheese (Quantum of Solace, Stranger than Fiction) do a fantastic job on the final cut of the film. Had it gone much longer, the audience would have lost interest and the major holes of the screenplay (by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Drew Goddard with contributions from Damon Lindelof) would have become much more obvious.

            So basic recommendation, if you have 2 hours of spare time and have seen all other action movies in the theater this week, World War Z is a much better alternative to The Purge.