Title: World War Z
Directed by: Mark Forster
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: June 21, 2013
Rated: PG-13
Synopsis: United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself. (Via IMDB)
Shaunta: I told Brian on our way to the theater that I’d be impressed if World War Z turned out to be a zombie movie where the scary was more psychological than gore. And it was. So, I am impressed. It was refreshing to watch a movie like this without it devolving into a gross-out fest. World War Z reminded me of I Am Legend in some ways. I never really feel that Brad Pitt disappears into a role. It’s always: Hey, look, it’s Brad Pitt. This movie wasn’t an exception. Only, it was: Hey, look, it’s Brad Pitt with weird Kurt Cobain hair. I guess it’s not all that surprising that a man with half-a-dozen kids is good at playing a dad, but he has that down. I also loved his chemistry with Mireille Enos, who played his wife (and is also the lead in one of my favorite shows, AMC’s The Killing.) There was a lot about this movie that made it stand out for me from similar films. Gerry Lane, the character Pitt plays, is a UN investigator, which lent a kind of intellectual edge to the movie that was appealing to me. Lots of times movies like this involve a lot of violence, but it was held at a minimum here, which for me made it scarier.
Brian: If you had told me a few weeks ago that I was going to like World War Z more than Man of Steel, I would have said you were crazy. While I’d been anticipating Man of Steel for months, World War Z looked a little stupid to me. Of course, the former turned out to be a disappointment, and the latter turned out to be a pleasant surprise. World War Z is a suspenseful, well-crafted thriller, with a strong performance by Brad Pitt in the lead. Unlike Man of Steel, which just assaults you with action in the last forty minutes, World War Z spreads the action out, which I enjoyed. The film is lean, with the crisis kicking in by minute five, and I loved how fast everything is wrapped up after the major, very effective climax. The film went through some extensive reshoots at the last hour, but the new ending integrates seamlessly with the rest of the film. I had a good time with World War Z, although I have to admit after being inundated with so many zombie apocalypse stories in film and on television these last few years, I didn’t find anything enormously surprising here. It’s one of those movies you enjoy while you’re watching, but don’t think about very much after you leave the theater. But in a summer of disappointments, World War Z is definitely a stand-out, and well worth seeing on the big screen.
Shaunta: I went into the movie thinking that the CGI in the previews looked cartoonish, and I was happy that in the film itself, it didn’t seem quite as bad as that. At the very, very end there’s a long close up of one of the zombies that actually had us laughing. He kept clacking his teeth like his dentures didn’t fit. The zombies themselves felt a little generic, while the story about them didn’t to me. I mean, they moved fast instead of shambling, but otherwise they were just like any other zombie anywhere. I saw the end coming a few minutes before it did, which is unusual for me because I never catch that stuff. It was an inventive ending, but for me it was broadcast too loudly before it happened. Bottom line, though, I was entertained all the way through this movie, and left the theater hoping for a sequel and thinking that I’d need to pick up the book. You can’t ask for too much more than that.
