World War Z (2013)

World War Z focuses on former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) as he traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling governments and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

Overall Review Score

6.5 out of 10

Review

Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks and a screen story drafted by Matthew Carnahan and J. Michael Straczynski, World War Z is a 2013, 111-minute, zombie-related apocalyptic horror. The film starts with a slow, subtle title sequences that outlines some details about the zombie virus and its intrinsic links to Mother Nature, which is further reinforced by Andrew Fassbach (Elyes Gabel), a scientist tasked with stopping the outbreak, who outlines that “Mother Nature is a serial killer. No one's better or more creative. Like all serial killers, she can't help the urge to want to get caught. What good are all those brilliant crimes if no one takes the credit? So she leaves crumbs. Now the hard part, why you spend a decade in school, is seeing the crumbs. But the clue's there. Sometimes the thing you thought was the most brutal aspect of the virus, turns out to be the chink in its armor and she loves disguising her weaknesses as strengths”. The audience is quickly thrust head first into a high-intensity, high-octane, pulse pounding action scene as Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family attempt to escape a horde of fast moving deadly zombies. After this two opposing introductory scenes, the film then alternates between dialogue-heavy, slow-paced scenes and loud, action-packed gunfights. Despite this, Brad Pitt puts on a semi-decent performance as a former United Nations Special Investigator turned world saving action man. However, he is let down by the supporting cast who put on poor performances and never show any real emotion or depth despite the world, and with it their families, descending into apocalyptic chaos. Overall, World War Z is a rather unique addition to the zombie-movie genre, while at times the film can be surprisingly gripping and equally action packed it is heavily let down by a poor supporting cast, its failure to cultivate its underlying horror premise, numerous missed opportunities and its rather rushed, and equally unfulfilling, ending.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 7 out of 10

Comments:

While being filled with the usual horror / zombie film clichés, such as, shaky camera shots, unnecessary jump scares, and flickering lights, World War Z was rather enjoyable to watch. Even the repeated use of scenes of pandemonium, as zombies sweep across entire cities remain visually stunning, which when coupled with the talented acting displayed by Brad Pitt will ensure that the audience’s attention is captured throughout the films run time.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 6 out of 10

Comments:

When watching World War Z I could not help but feel the film was essentially different stories crammed into one 111-minute film. On one hand, World War Z is a big budget action film complete with all the razzle-dazzle expected of such a film, including one determined protagonist, a family awaiting the protagonist’s safe return, a large plane crash, hordes of zombies and lots of mindless shooting. While on the other hand, it tries to be a subtle but serious detective thriller revolving around Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) piecing together clues to identify the outbreak of the apocalyptic virus in order to stop it spreading. While both elements could have worked together, the nature of the script made these stories incompatible as the entire story became an endless round of travelling from one country and group of soldiers to the next, with the occasional shooting interlude, effectively making the identification of the outbreak a mute point. Overall, despite World War Z having some good moments and some reasonably good special effects, it fails to deliver, as its two main story arcs will leave the audience somewhat bemused, while its ill-conceived, clunky mediocre ending will anger the audience as it ends on an unnecessary cliff-hanger without any indication of how the outbreak started or equally how many people survived.

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