Forster does well behind the camera, giving such discussions some decent gravitas while mixing in the usual spectacle and visual bombast expected of the summer blockbuster. If the plague of the undead is virus born, then it's only logical to combat it much the same way we have in the past, which doesn't always mean a permanent cure. In the thick of the pandemonium and endless running - as well as flying - for survival, 'World War Z' arrives with some level of appreciable intelligence, aspiring to be a thinking person's popcorn action flick with zombies. It's also the place where Gerry gains a fellow companion in Israeli soldier Segen, played admirably by Daniella Kertesz. The Jerusalem scene is an especially inspiring sight as the violent barriers that once divided people crumble in light of a common global enemy while also leading to the film's most harrowing action set piece. Another nice touch is hearing the stories of others coping with the chaos, though we don't get enough of those conversations unfortunately, as it would've lent a great deal of heart and drama to an otherwise grimly dark plot. This is also particularly important since Pitt spends much of the time acting the gloomy Gus after being made to volunteer his investigative services as recompense for his family being protected by the Navy.
The human element to the story - thankfully there is one since the film mostly consists of people dying in large quantities - comes largely from Gerry's kids (no, not those kids!) and wife Karin (a distressed, tearful Mireille Enos). Whereas most zombie tales are about the hidden monsters within humans and the often cold methods of survival, the monster igniting the world's end here is an uncontainable, widespread, and highly infectious disease that kills without prejudice or caring about walls. Calling the infected "zombies" or "undead" (or "Zeke" as one American soldier in South Korea likes to refer to them) is more out of panic and a convenient tag to something that suddenly sprang out of nowhere in a matter of a couple weeks. It's a reality that's all too terrifyingly possible, with technology being the unforeseeably perfect means of transportation. This aspect of the plot is ultimately what I like best - the sheer hysteria and pandemonium of a highly contagious virus being the ultimate ruin of modern civilization. He's believable and a welcome presence amid the chaos as he hopes to find "patient zero" in a worldwide zombie-like pandemic that threatens the survival of the world and his picture-perfect family. Wearing a thin scarf or perhaps a keffiyeh around his neck through most of the journey, Pitt, who I believe is also doing his first big-budget Hollywood-style disaster movie, does his best as an everyday family man - as opposed to his usually more eccentric roles. Lane follows a paper trail of comments mentioning the word zombie or bizarre outbreaks of rabid-like behavior, interviewing various individuals that have come in close contact with the infected. Shockingly, Forster and his team managed to deliver a reasonably entertaining popcorn flick with some brains.Īs in Brooks' novel, our main protagonist Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a former United Nations investigator, scours the world to uncover the cause behind the planet's frighteningly rapid collapse. With the sort of problems experienced by the filmmakers, raising the budget close to $200 million, you would reasonably expect a disaster on the scale depicted by the film. For a while, the production seemed at a standstill with setbacks, reshoots, and rewrites threatening to shelve it, pushing its original Christmas release date to summer, and handing writing duties off to Damon Lindelof (' Prometheus') as if out of desperation. Marc Forster's 'World War Z' may have little to do with Max Brooks' novel outside of the title and some characters, but for the most part, the blockbuster adaptation remains true to the spirit, concern, and intelligence of the book's premise.
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