Movie Review: World War Z
Adapted from the famous apocalyptic-horror novel by Max Brooks, World War Z tells the story of how a former United Nations investigator (Brad Pitt) must travel the globe by car, cargo plane, and even a plane with a gaping hole in the side of it, in order to prevent the spread of a deadly zombie-like outbreak. Unlike the novel, which featured a variety of accounts from the survivors of the fictional Zombie War in order to tell the story, the film mainly focuses on Brad Pitt's character as he must abandon his family and travel world-wide to obtain the cure. The film had its positives, like the action and suspense of the zombie outbreak, as well as its negatives, which I'll cover later on.
Like any typical zombie film, World War Z had all the basic elements (and clichés) it takes to successfully make a decent horror/war/zombie-like film. If you don't know what a typical zombie cliché looks like, such as flickering lights or someone stepping on glass for instance, than you probably haven't seen many zombie films (cause they're used quite a lot). Either way, sidestepping the annoying cliché rant I'm likely to have for reasons of making this review longer, I'm okay with a little bit of clichés here and there, mainly because I'm not one to overreact on the smallest thing. World War Z, as flawed as it may be, was overall entertaining for any zombie-horror fan, or even any Brad Pitt fans out there.
The music in the film was another thing I enjoyed. While it wasn't from the talented composer Hans Zimmer, the score gave off a similar vibe with its blaring bursts of horn instruments (See Inception to get what I mean). Scoring films ranging from Gladiator to Man of Steel, Hans Zimmer has become one of my favorite score composers (along with famous Star Wars composer John Williams). The composer of this film, Marco Beltrami, used similar sounds from Zimmer, making the film even more awesome with its epic soundtrack.
Normally I don't watch many zombie films (the last being the Twilight-like zombie-human love story (gross!) Warm Bodies, don't judge me), but once every few years a decent movie about the undead (or infected in this case) comes along and maintains my attention with its gory violence and outlandish plots. A film like World War Z, that told the story of a family man who somehow becomes the sole savior of a world congested in a deadly outbreak, does a good job keeping my attention, with its odd way at portraying the zombie hoard and its rather unrealistic action scenes, but doesn't play out much of a structured plot. Although it may be based on the book (or the title at least), I think the story might have been a little better if they had stuck with the original theme of the various accounts of the victims of the book's fictional Zombie War. Hopefully, in the near future, we can get a film like that (such as Danial H. Wilson's Robopocalypse, that tells of the robot uprising) that can appeal to the interesting theme that could be cool to see on screen.
Overall, World War Z was entertaining and a decent zombie film. If you like films that over-exaggerate its action, but have grounded story lines and decent-looking zombies, then you'll enjoy this film about a man, his dangerously-exciting adventures around the world, and his journey to find not only the cure to an infected world population, but the long-awaited chance to make his way back into decent blockbuster films.
I gave this film a 7 out of 10 because, while it was entertaining to watch, the plot and action scenes weren't all that exciting, along with the character development, which lacked...development. Hopefully, if a decent sequel spawns from this film, it might do a little better with its story and how they portray the war against humans and the infected.
Like any typical zombie film, World War Z had all the basic elements (and clichés) it takes to successfully make a decent horror/war/zombie-like film. If you don't know what a typical zombie cliché looks like, such as flickering lights or someone stepping on glass for instance, than you probably haven't seen many zombie films (cause they're used quite a lot). Either way, sidestepping the annoying cliché rant I'm likely to have for reasons of making this review longer, I'm okay with a little bit of clichés here and there, mainly because I'm not one to overreact on the smallest thing. World War Z, as flawed as it may be, was overall entertaining for any zombie-horror fan, or even any Brad Pitt fans out there.
The music in the film was another thing I enjoyed. While it wasn't from the talented composer Hans Zimmer, the score gave off a similar vibe with its blaring bursts of horn instruments (See Inception to get what I mean). Scoring films ranging from Gladiator to Man of Steel, Hans Zimmer has become one of my favorite score composers (along with famous Star Wars composer John Williams). The composer of this film, Marco Beltrami, used similar sounds from Zimmer, making the film even more awesome with its epic soundtrack.
Normally I don't watch many zombie films (the last being the Twilight-like zombie-human love story (gross!) Warm Bodies, don't judge me), but once every few years a decent movie about the undead (or infected in this case) comes along and maintains my attention with its gory violence and outlandish plots. A film like World War Z, that told the story of a family man who somehow becomes the sole savior of a world congested in a deadly outbreak, does a good job keeping my attention, with its odd way at portraying the zombie hoard and its rather unrealistic action scenes, but doesn't play out much of a structured plot. Although it may be based on the book (or the title at least), I think the story might have been a little better if they had stuck with the original theme of the various accounts of the victims of the book's fictional Zombie War. Hopefully, in the near future, we can get a film like that (such as Danial H. Wilson's Robopocalypse, that tells of the robot uprising) that can appeal to the interesting theme that could be cool to see on screen.
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| Legendary director Steven Spielberg is said to be taking on the robot-uprising tale by Danial H. Wilson |
Overall, World War Z was entertaining and a decent zombie film. If you like films that over-exaggerate its action, but have grounded story lines and decent-looking zombies, then you'll enjoy this film about a man, his dangerously-exciting adventures around the world, and his journey to find not only the cure to an infected world population, but the long-awaited chance to make his way back into decent blockbuster films.
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