World War Z – Film Review
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz and James Badge Dale
Released: Jun 21
Surely, by now, the zombie craze has ended right? Warm Bodies, by all rights, should have marked the point where the trend has gone so far that it’s come out the other side. This trend should have been put 6 feet under by this stage. But yet, it keeps coming back to life, reanimated and hungry for more consumers and mindless movie-goers. (Editor’s note – think of adequate metaphor for this analogy and then come back to it).
World War Z is based on the book of the same name and, unsurprisingly, features copious amounts of zombies unleashing hell upon the world. Original, no? Unlike the book itself, which read like a multitude of UN reports, the film has been adapted to include a main character, Gerry, who is traversing the globe to find a cure for the outbreak. Played by the titular Brad Pitt, the book’s greatest strength becomes the film’s greatest weakness.
The main problem with this out-of-control love of zombies is that each film released is a retelling of an all too familiar story. How does World War Z differ from, say, George A Romero’s Land of the Dead or 28 Weeks Later? There are the occasional original set-pieces, true, but these will only carry a film so far. It needs an original hook to actually grab audiences, otherwise it’s just another ineffective and unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead. The official government perspective on the outbreak is effective in the book but translated onto film, it simply slips into being another bland undead lumbering monstrosity.
In creating a heroic main character, World War Z loses that one central and really original idea it had going for it. This is very much Pitt’s show, his actions across the globe justified by his need to keep his family aboard a safe, government owned, ocean-liner. It doesn’t feel like a natural fit, however. His determination in his work doesn’t really require that added sense of humanity, and he doesn’t have enough time or chemistry with his family to make it feel like a necessary addition to the film. On top of this, the messiah overtones are altogether a little too strong, reaching it’s pique at the films end with a slow-motion walk that is at odds with the semi-gritty realism the film is striving for.
The narrative take Gerry all across the globe, from America, to Jerusalem, to England. Jerusalem is by far the most impressive of these locations, in terms of epic action, but this isn’t necessarily saying much. The zombies themselves are unfortunately quite bland, the vanilla variety from the undead ice cream truck. There are some interesting ideas at work, one in particular being the Horde. During the outbreaks and zombie attacks, they work together at what appears to be a giant, single-minded multi-limbed entity, which is terrifying in theory, but is rarely viewed in close-up. And while there are the occasional horror sections which take place in claustrophobic areas (a plane, a hospital wing), these are shock-educing at best, but far from horrifying.
Overall, despite the big budget, incredible visuals and Brad Pitt, World War Z is a competent, yet thoroughly disengaging film. It’s a retelling of a story that has been told many times in the past decade, strongly lacking in originality, devoid of actual horror and with no memorable characters to speak of, bar Brad Pitt playing Man. If you’re looking for a by-the-numbers zombie flick, this’ll do the job. But for actual entertainment, you might be better off waiting for the next bi-monthly zombie movie, in which creativity might play a larger role.
Score: 2/5
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