For about a year now I
have been expecting World War Z to
get released only to fall flat on its face.
It had all the makings of a box-office bomb. The troubles with its production have been well
documented (and not to mention mocked) after going through multiple rewrites,
budget overages, and several weeks of reshoots leading to their already large
production budget to almost double by the time it was over. I had been preparing myself for a stinker of Waterworld proportions. The
whole time I was following this I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Brad Pitt
(who over the years has proven to be a surprisingly good actor) and Max Brooks
the author of the book World War Z (which
I find to be an excellent read for any zombie lover). In short, I was pretty much expecting this to
suck. Then I actually took the time to
watch it. While it’s not a masterpiece, World War Z proves to be a surprisingly
solid movie.
I’m going to start by being blunt to the fans of the Max
Brooks novel. If you’re looking for a
faithful adaption of the book, you will be greatly disappointed. While the movie does indeed center around a
zombie apocalypse the similarities more or less end there. You might be asking yourselves “Well why did
they even bother buying the movie rights if they were just going to make it
into something completely different and unrecognizable anyway?” Well, sadly I can’t help you there. Instead, I urge you to let it go and simply
enjoy the book for what it is (an excellent and unique piece of literature) and
enjoy the movie for what it is (a good zombie/action movie). While I admit I probably would’ve preferred
they stay true to what Brooks had written, the movie shocked me by being a
perfectly good story in its own right.
When
a mysterious zombie outbreak quickly overruns his hometown of Philadelphia,
former U.N. investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is recruited to investigate the
cause of the outbreak which has already begun infecting people worldwide. Gerry reluctantly agrees for the sake of his
wife (Mireille Enos) and kids. From there,
his investigation takes him to a military base in South Korea, a quarantined
Jerusalem, and a medical research facility in Wales.
Naturally
in between all of the inevitable exposition there are the inevitable zombie
attacks. Some of the CGI zombies in the
bigger scenes leave a bit to be desired but for the most part the action
sequences are well executed. Where World War Z really shines though is with
the climax. I won’t tell you what
happens so that you have a chance to see for it for yourself. I will say however, that I found it to be
genuinely creepy and suspenseful. As I was
watching I got the feeling they trying to recreate the tone of The Walking Dead and mostly
succeeded.
While
the epidemic does appear to have been spread worldwide, most of (if not all)
the focus is centered on Gerry and his family and with that comes a double
edged sword so to speak. None of them
are particularly interesting people which is only made worse by the fact that
their character development is probably the weakest thing about the movie. Luckily, however Pitt brought his A-game for
this picture and has more than enough talent and charisma to make up for the
script’s shortcomings.
While fans of the book may be dissatisfied by what’s on
the screen, the movie has plenty to offer as well.
Grade: B
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