World War Z

World War Z should have been very incoherent, it mixes very different approaches to the zombie sub-genre, but in the end it’s a surprisingly good an interesting film. The creative disagreements can be clearly seen (if there is something the film lacks it’s a solid vision), but paradoxically, that may have contributed to an untraditional narrative outcome. World War Z is basically three stories in one linked by the protagonist, and though they are connected, they are also very different in many aspects. The beginning is similar to Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (the zombie apocalypse begins, the protagonists try get to safety), the middle part is an action-packed search for the origin of the virus, and the last part is a more intimate laboratory horror story. I had some problems with the middle part, though it does have several excellent set pieces, the search for clues as a whole felt very random and haphazard. By the way, the editor must have gone totally bonkers, in some of the action scenes you can’t see anything, and every shot that was at least a little longer was a joy. Thanks God for that quiet, intimate ending. 75 %. PS: If you want to know what the original ending of the film was like, read this article. I think that in this case it’s pointless to blast Lindelof’s rewrite. The version we saw in cinemas is a lot happier than the dark original ending, but even as a horror fan I don’t think that “dark” always equals “better”. That said, I’d love to watch the battle of Moscow, hopefully the studio will release it, at least in BluRay, they filmed it already. (06/27/2013)

In spite of all the media failures (being over-budget, reshoots), Forster presents a rather unconventional zombie spectacle that works more along the lines of a flamboyant action movie in which a middle-class family and the world around them are drowning. The brilliantly paced direction (supported by good editing) pushes forward a plot vacuum that boils down to the fact that it takes the title and two or three prominent geopolitical allusions from a brilliant book, whilst then treading its own path to get to its roots, i.e., the horror in the lab. However, having a tighter dramatic arc, not limited to alternating the three locations where the protagonist arrives and the undead horde a minute after him, would not have hurt the film. [I want the Battle of Moscow, at least as a bonus on Blu-ray] 3 ½. (09/29/2013)

I will admit that all I knew about this movie was that Brad Pitt put a lot of time and money in it. So I thought it might be a decent Hollywood movie. And it was. The creators somehow combined a lot of well-filmed action and added a few philosophical questions on life and family. The finale was a nice surprise. It almost seems like the screenwriter was pondering how to end this movie and wanted to have a different take at it. Why wouldn’t he, when the movie’s biggest issue is that everything is again about zombies? There is an infection spreading, so why complicate things, let’s turn people into zombies again. Why not, when it is so fashionable nowadays, even more when they run around like Usain Bolt? That’s what they’re best at, except for eating people. Well, what can I say? That’s the way it is today. (10/15/2013)

Brrrr... in this film, the ghosts of dead ambitions are haunting. The script (re-written three times) bears witness to a shift from a not entirely perceived personnel perspective (a whiff of institutional crisis and slight hints of the sociology of disaster brought to a solid level by Forster's more civilian direction), to a bombastic spectacle (action adventure structure including some sequences that are obviously "scripted" - Jerusalem), and then back to the intimate plane (a completely redesigned ending that left behind the monstrous action storyline in Russia and edited in a bit of intimate Resident Evil in a lab). In addition to the surprisingly certain directing and atmosphere, the whole thing is saved by Pitt, who, even when infected with a can in his hand, looks as if he really cares a lot about the film (perhaps it’s the x million invested in it?). At its core, I like this indecisive wash between Contagion, The Walking Dead and a forgettable "disaster" film. If only because some people had foretold that it would have the fate of the disintegrated catastrophe a la The Invasion, but the film is more like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The individual levels are actually quite entertaining, and when one abstracts from awkward transitions, the screenwriting issues and the fact that the only thing in common with the original are the undead, it was solid fun overall. [70%] P.S. I would love to bite the idiot who came up with a film with a frenetic cadence of alternating wholes, second-long details and out of focus shots converted into 3D. If you can, just avoid this desperate attempt to save an overburdened budget. (06/19/2013)

A mixture of many incongruous interpretations and approaches to the zombie apocalypse theme. No surprise then that it couldn’t make a single coherent unit if it tried. But surprisingly, each one of these approaches is handled well in itself and so as the sum of many separate subsets it actually works; outstandingly so in the second half Jerusalem→ airplane→ Wales. Too bad about rating worries and so the lack of a darker tone and more gore in the final part. In the scenes where Pitt sinks his crowbar into a zombie’s head, not even Angelina would want to see a close-up of Brad’s face; whenever a drop of blood “threatens", the camera quickly pans up to Pitt’s tortured face. And considering how many times this happens, it’s almost ridiculous. Anyhow, I’m intrigued to see the potential director’s cut, because if I understand correctly, Forster had a vision, Pitt from his position of producer had a completely different one and, in the end, in the spirit of “the strongest dog gets to fuck", the studio slipped in its own version? (06/26/2013)

A passable summer blockbuster that could have done better, but trying to please the viewer’s greed it ended up as a visual one-bite snack with an unclear message. Forster presents the pandemic as Mother Nature’s way of making human trash pay for their sins, forcing them to eat themselves. The title sequence and the dulcet tones of The 2nd Law: Isolated System by Muse, a summing up by an deranged virologist (our greatest hope), this all indicates deeper thought. Then there’s a turn about when in War of the Worlds style we escape from the city (even Rachel is here) to get to a boat and then we travel the world with Brad - when I say the world, I mean basements in Korea, Jerusalem (substituted by Malta) and Britain. The whole thing holds together weirdly and it seemed to me that the storytelling structure had maybe been different (better) in a first version of the screenplay and the initial attack on Pitt’s family was meant to appear in some flashback. You can see that it’s a broken vase broke stuck back together again and it holds, but some of the pieces were newly made to fit some gaping holes. The ending in the lab is the only scene with the genre cliché of terrifying, shuffling zombies, while they are quite successful in changing them in the rest of the movie. These stiffs remind me more of Smith’s colleagues in I Am Legend. On the other hand, some individual scenes are filmed exceptionally well, they are engaging (the 3D really bothers me in dark interiors), and work excellently standing alone. The ideas that the creators pull out of the bag are sometimes very novel and refreshing. The toothless David Morse, the burned general’s tapping finger, the airplane and the laboratory chase. The mainstay of the movie is the conquest of Jerusalem, which takes your breath away. In fact, I liked it, despite all of my objections, but I can’t get rid of the feeling that this could have made a much better movie. It had the material for it... If I had to compare it to the book, I would just sadly agree that this wasn’t good. (06/30/2013)

According to Max Brooks, World War Z became more serious after the experiences of the past years. It used to be just a different, smarter zombie movie with Brad Pitt produced by his company Plan B. The main asset was Pitt's classic hero, the ultimate likable guy, who looks good no matter what, and of course, it's him and no one else who can save humanity... with his cuteness. Today, the sight of a global pandemic is somewhat more chilling. (02/18/2022)

Urgent, intense, with a slight intellectual touch. The finale is predictable around halfway through, but it does not diminish its dramatic and impressive quality in any way. It is technically brilliant and very fast-paced. This is the style that I have liked about Forster since Quantum of Solace, one that many condemn. I feel like it is slightly out of sync with today's time and many people can't digest it, but I perceive it as a very progressive aspect of his directing. Minimalistic in terms of acting and visuals, with minimal (depressive and gloomy) music, exceptionally raw and “realistic”, World War Z has an excellent feeling to it. The zombies are unbelievably believable and also one of the few that are taken seriously. (07/05/2013)

A very decent spectacle. It has momentum, ideas and above all an excellent main character who is ready to undergo the worst not because some pompous patriotic duty calls him to it, but because he is protecting his own family. Brad Pitt is excellent, and although he's no superman, and I really liked how logical his character is, how he makes instinctive decisions and improvises (making a bayonet or forearm guards, plus other moments that I won't reveal - one of them has to do with the roof of a house and the other with a hand and a knife...). World War Z should be longer, though, because I couldn't help feeling that quite a lot of the plot is missing and many things or characters are somehow unexplained or unnecessarily rushed (David Morse, why everyone in Jerusalem suddenly started singing...). Otherwise, everything is just fine. Some of the situations were almost blackly humorous (Dr. Fassbach, the way North Korea fights the disease...), the ending didn't have a single flaw (except that it reminded me a bit of the ending of I am Legend). The stunts are almost perfect, the action is fortunately much clearer than in Quantum of Solace, the zombies are swarming like ants and are very (un)pleasantly unpredictable, and of all the biting swarming I probably liked the Jerusalem episode the most (despite the aforementioned criticism). And Marco Beltrami composed excellent music, but this time it is more interesting after seeing the film. A strong four stars. (06/27/2013)

If you put together a great premise (I haven't read the book, but all those glowing reviews hopefully don't lie), a superstar actor and a very skilled director who can cope with the shortcomings of a rather brutally slashed script and the obvious absurdity of the world outlined, where nukes explode without any visible reaction and the most wanted man on the planet is killed, while a regular UN member calmly saves his family and teddy bear, you can still get a genuine genre smash hit. World War Z may be far from perfect (no matter how each of us perceives it) and, although it looks original, it combines all the clichés from famous B-movies and, more recently, computer games, but it’s such a visual and thrilling, old-school and megalomaniac spectacle that you can't be angry at the few holes in logic and the imperfections. Forster did not disappoint, Pitt became even more iconic and the zombies enjoyed their role as favourite bad guys once again. And so did I :-) 80% (09/27/2013)

I’m at a loss. I normally don’t watch horror movies at all as I’m not really into this genre, but I thought the basis of a horror movie was at least a hint of a story. I’m not sure if there’s anything positive to be said about this movie. There’s no story at all, some situations are rather comical (whenever Pitt shows up, literally a few minutes later a horde of zombies will appear on the screen, and the screenwriters just couldn’t care less about why, what or how). Even the zombies themselves, who could compete with the best Jamaican sprinters, are peculiar, to say the least. The conclusion was quite hilarious. I’m not sure what I was expecting, since even the trailers made this already look like a fail, but it was truly terrible. 2 stars for Pitt and a decent soundtrack, otherwise it was just a fairy tale for adults, sadly without any semblance of a logical story. (10/06/2013)