Being dead brings great rewards if the current spate of zombie films is anything to go by. Many movies and TV shows in the genre have been hits with walking ghouls raking up big dollars. Based on a Max Brooks novel, World War Z joins in this celebration of beastly carnage. Attempting an epic feel only a mega-budget can allow, it should aid in ensuring the genre doesn’t shuffle off to its mortal coil.
When a zombie plague begins spreading across the world, entire countries begin falling. United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is tasked with finding a cure. Horrified at what he sees, he aims to galvanise political and military support. Trying to save humanity from itself, Gerry’s actions become the only hope Earth has of survival.
World War Z proves how bad editing and lethargic direction can spoil a good premise. Mirroring its troubled production, whole scenes seem to have been taken out in order to create a more ‘action-heavy’ film. Unfortunately absence of clarity results in a loss of much needed characterisation. There is also a terminal lack of urgency – where there should be constant tension, it only appears intermittently. Not helping is Marc Forster’s direction which feels unusually disengaged.
Although needing more depth World War Z scores with its impressive action sequences. These successfully convey the world-wide calamity in which Pitt’s character can utilise his specific skills. The zombies he faces are agreeably ferocious with the money used in bringing them to CGI-life well spent. Those elements go some way in masking the story’s predictability and episodic nature.
Not quite the enterprise it should have been, World War Z still has some good moments. If only the production issues didn’t affect its focus, it may have been more memorable than the somewhat mediocre effort presented.
Reviewed by Patrick Moore
Rating out of 10: 5
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