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Synopsis:
Gerry Lane, a retired UN Investigator, has been spending the past while with his Children as a house Husband, while his Wife goes to work to support them financially.
One morning though, their lives change radically when it appears a virus of some kind is turning people into Zombies.
Gerry must do everything he can to ensure the safety of his family...
... but when the Government calls him back on to duty, Gerry must use every resource he has, and his wits, to save not just his Wife and Children, but also the entire World.
Review #216, Movie #287
World War Z
Year Of Release
2013
Director
Marc Forster
Producer/s
Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Ian Bryce
Writer/s
Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof, J Michael Straczynski
Cast
Brad Pitt, Daniella Kertesz, Mireille Enos, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove, Fana Mokoena and David Morse
Notes
After the novel was written and published in 2006, a year later Brad Pitt's company Plan B went head to head with Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way in a bidding war for rights to the make the film.
Novelist Max Brooks had absolutely no input on the film either, but was in favour of Pitt over DiCaprio and supported the changes made from book-film transition.
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World War Z
Year Of Release
2013
Director
Marc Forster
Producer/s
Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Ian Bryce
Writer/s
Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof, J Michael Straczynski
Cast
Brad Pitt, Daniella Kertesz, Mireille Enos, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove, Fana Mokoena and David Morse
Notes
After the novel was written and published in 2006, a year later Brad Pitt's company Plan B went head to head with Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way in a bidding war for rights to the make the film.
Novelist Max Brooks had absolutely no input on the film either, but was in favour of Pitt over DiCaprio and supported the changes made from book-film transition.
---
Synopsis:
Gerry Lane, a retired UN Investigator, has been spending the past while with his Children as a house Husband, while his Wife goes to work to support them financially.
One morning though, their lives change radically when it appears a virus of some kind is turning people into Zombies.
Gerry must do everything he can to ensure the safety of his family...
... but when the Government calls him back on to duty, Gerry must use every resource he has, and his wits, to save not just his Wife and Children, but also the entire World.
---
Review:
Slammed by some (mainly those who read the book first) and given a thumbs up by others... but WWZ as far as I can tell hasn't managed to garner any actual lovers of the film.
It's a bit of an odd one this...
What the film is, is a solidly pieced together mystery, backed up by some of the best acting in a Zombie movie I've seen, and a ton of action to back it up.
The film then goes into almost the original Resident Evil style haunted house genre in the third act.
As a whole, the film is one long thrill ride of Zombified Gore and never lets up in terms of tension. It's very on-the-edge-of-the-seat exciting from start to end.
Most Zombie movies are labelled as Horrors from the get-go though, but many are just gore fests or Milla Jovovich smashing heads together... World War Z really is a Horror Movie.
It's well crafted in delivery of frights, is nicely toned when it comes to the peril that the characters get in, and the general writing allows you to learn the characters as the film progresses, which adds a little more to the mystery aspects as the characters begin to show their traits.
The film has pretty much everything in terms of the Horror genre; frights, shock, gore, atmosphere, jumpy bits, paranoia, claustrophobia and a few original ideas when it comes to the creatures as well in terms of their traits.
There are a few quieter scene involved too, which adds a sense of realism to the proceedings. It's not just all out smash'em action.
The way they get from act two into the third act is contrived though, even though the third act is a wonderfully playful series of hide-behind-your-cushion scenes.
The acting though as I said is probably the best I've seen in a Zombie movie.
Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane is brilliantly intelligent. You really believe this guy is a professional at what he does, a Government Investigator.
When he's around his family too is brilliantly played by Pitt. His protective nature toward his family is spot on... even when he near attempts suicide for their protection.
Mireille Enos as Gerry's Wife Karin is also spot on, though she's not seen a massive amount after the first act. She spend most of her time with the kids when Gerry is off across the Globe investigating the virus.
Sterling Jerins and Abigail Hargrove play the Lane Children. Both are similar to Enos in that they aren't seen a huge amount after Gerry goes off on his adventure. Both are good though amongst the chaos and hold the characters well.
Daniella Kertesz plays Segen, an Israeli Soldier who becomes a stalwart pal of Gerry's. Kertesz is great throughout and is key to the plot at a couple points... sadly, she's not really utilised as well as she could have been.
Backup comes from Fana Mokoena, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken, Matthew Fox and David Morse. Morse's character is really a non-character though.
As for the action... top marks. There's a lot of CGI involved, however the choreography and photography within the practical effects and the makeup and Zombie effects are outstanding.
The filmmakers have also utilised a style of movement and choreography for the creatures that adds a huge sense of threat and makes your toes really curl when the action gets going.
Slammed by some (mainly those who read the book first) and given a thumbs up by others... but WWZ as far as I can tell hasn't managed to garner any actual lovers of the film.
It's a bit of an odd one this...
What the film is, is a solidly pieced together mystery, backed up by some of the best acting in a Zombie movie I've seen, and a ton of action to back it up.
The film then goes into almost the original Resident Evil style haunted house genre in the third act.
As a whole, the film is one long thrill ride of Zombified Gore and never lets up in terms of tension. It's very on-the-edge-of-the-seat exciting from start to end.
Most Zombie movies are labelled as Horrors from the get-go though, but many are just gore fests or Milla Jovovich smashing heads together... World War Z really is a Horror Movie.
It's well crafted in delivery of frights, is nicely toned when it comes to the peril that the characters get in, and the general writing allows you to learn the characters as the film progresses, which adds a little more to the mystery aspects as the characters begin to show their traits.
The film has pretty much everything in terms of the Horror genre; frights, shock, gore, atmosphere, jumpy bits, paranoia, claustrophobia and a few original ideas when it comes to the creatures as well in terms of their traits.
There are a few quieter scene involved too, which adds a sense of realism to the proceedings. It's not just all out smash'em action.
The way they get from act two into the third act is contrived though, even though the third act is a wonderfully playful series of hide-behind-your-cushion scenes.
The acting though as I said is probably the best I've seen in a Zombie movie.
Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane is brilliantly intelligent. You really believe this guy is a professional at what he does, a Government Investigator.
When he's around his family too is brilliantly played by Pitt. His protective nature toward his family is spot on... even when he near attempts suicide for their protection.
Mireille Enos as Gerry's Wife Karin is also spot on, though she's not seen a massive amount after the first act. She spend most of her time with the kids when Gerry is off across the Globe investigating the virus.
Sterling Jerins and Abigail Hargrove play the Lane Children. Both are similar to Enos in that they aren't seen a huge amount after Gerry goes off on his adventure. Both are good though amongst the chaos and hold the characters well.
Daniella Kertesz plays Segen, an Israeli Soldier who becomes a stalwart pal of Gerry's. Kertesz is great throughout and is key to the plot at a couple points... sadly, she's not really utilised as well as she could have been.
Backup comes from Fana Mokoena, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken, Matthew Fox and David Morse. Morse's character is really a non-character though.
As for the action... top marks. There's a lot of CGI involved, however the choreography and photography within the practical effects and the makeup and Zombie effects are outstanding.
The filmmakers have also utilised a style of movement and choreography for the creatures that adds a huge sense of threat and makes your toes really curl when the action gets going.
---
All in all... strong, but far from perfect. Some of the characters aren't used very well, and there's a couple of contrived scenes that slap the realistic nature of the film down a few pegs.
However, for a Zombie movie, it's one of the best modern ones going. Full of great scares, great atmosphere and some really well pieced together connections between the audience and the characters and the action and brilliant effects make it stand out from the crowd.
My rating: 82%
All in all... strong, but far from perfect. Some of the characters aren't used very well, and there's a couple of contrived scenes that slap the realistic nature of the film down a few pegs.
However, for a Zombie movie, it's one of the best modern ones going. Full of great scares, great atmosphere and some really well pieced together connections between the audience and the characters and the action and brilliant effects make it stand out from the crowd.
My rating: 82%
