World War Z

AMC's The Walking Dead, for whatever reason, has been an extremely successful show. Actually it's been enormous, putting up network television type ratings and dominating the cable landscape. Such a depressing, violent, and gory show doesn't really seem like it would become such a hit, but the show's high quality and intriguing story of human survival has caught on with America. So predictably, just as Twilight spawned countless vampire/werewolf properties, zombies are back in vogue. World War Z is a zombie apocalypse film starring Brad Pitt, that takes a newer and slightly less depressing view on the genre.

Gerry Lane (Pitt), has retired from his job abroad with the U.N. in order to spend more time with his wife (Mireille Enos) and two daughters. While stuck in traffic on the way to school, the Lane family is swept up in a panic, as an outbreak of zombies is terrorizing the city. Now Gerry has been tasked by his old colleague Thierry (Fana Mokoene) to help pin down the source of the virus, and stop the outbreak.

WWZ starts out at breakneck speed with an impressive "main characters find out the zombie apocalypse is happening" scene that starts every zombie movie. After the first 30 minutes the Lane family gets to relative safety, and the movie somewhat halts. Many of the dialogue scenes feel like they were rushed, or that there was more exposition there that got left on the cutting room floor. It all leads up to a tense and scary, albeit underwhelming, finale that sets up WWZ2. Props to WWZ for actually saying the world "zombie", as most zombie movies don't acknowledge that there has been fiction portarying them for the last 60 years. The most impressive scenes involve giant hordes of zombies going crazy and creating a panic, even if the CGI'd undead are somewhat suspect looking.

Besides focusing on the survival of those left unaffected by the virus, which most zombie movies/shows/books do, WWZ gives viewers more hope that there is actually a cure out there. Pitt's quest doesn't seem like a wild goose chase, offering a less depressing landscape that felt refreshing. Frankly, I don't want every single zombie movie to end with the obligatory "there's no cure but we will still keep fighting" ending. The fact that Gerry might be able to stop things, a la Will Smith's character in I Am Legend, makes the action much more interesting.

This is somewhat of a puzzling role for Pitt. Besides the Ocean's films (of which he was part of a large ensemble), Pitt usually stays away from the action blockbuster pic. His most noteworthy roles (Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Benjamin Button, 12 Monkeys), haven't exactly been action hero money maker roles, and Gerry in WWZ is not exactly an action hero, but the movie certainly has the feel of a large scale action film. Maybe Pitt is doing what Depp did with Pirates of the Caribbean, and getting a giant pay day for a crowd pleasing role. He's good as Gerry, but his character has a lot of missed opportunities, and we don't really get to see that eclectic and charismatic Pitt performance we're used to.

Lastly I will note that the movie was very clearly trying to garner a PG-13 rating. The intense gore that is present in most zombie movies is non-existent. It was a nice break from the in your face gore that the genre normally brings, but the lack of it is somewhat jarring for the events that are depicted.

WWZ ends up telling a different story than most zombie movies, which is a good thing. The bad thing is that it feels a bit rushed, and there is little investment in anyone besides Gerry. I'd like to see more WWZ films, hopefully realized to its full potential.

3/5