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How entertaining? ★★☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 7 June 2013
This article is a review of WORLD WAR Z.
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“Is anyone doing better than we are?” Gerry Lane
Any zombie movie lover surely has pondered the potential result, if the resources of a tent-pole summer blockbuster were allocated to the subgenre? When Brad Pitt was aligned to get Max Brooks’ inventive and intelligent-beyond-the-realms-of-the-expected book onto the big screen, I was salivating at the prospects. Pitt’s choices have been savvy in front of, and behind, the camera. Don’t forget, he produced THE DEPARTED and KICK-ASS, as well as THE TREE OF LIFE and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD - evidence of pedigree and integrity. And it thus saddens me at the resulting mess of this movie, and the direness of the adaptation.
For fans of the novel, WORLD WAR Z the film has no resemblance to the source. The brilliantly conceived episodic global response, to the zombie apocalypse, is completely absent; to such an extent that one wonders what was the point of buying the rights?
Any zombie movie lover surely has pondered the potential result, if the resources of a tent-pole summer blockbuster were allocated to the subgenre? When Brad Pitt was aligned to get Max Brooks’ inventive and intelligent-beyond-the-realms-of-the-expected book onto the big screen, I was salivating at the prospects. Pitt’s choices have been savvy in front of, and behind, the camera. Don’t forget, he produced THE DEPARTED and KICK-ASS, as well as THE TREE OF LIFE and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD - evidence of pedigree and integrity. And it thus saddens me at the resulting mess of this movie, and the direness of the adaptation.
For fans of the novel, WORLD WAR Z the film has no resemblance to the source. The brilliantly conceived episodic global response, to the zombie apocalypse, is completely absent; to such an extent that one wonders what was the point of buying the rights?
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Forgetting the mainspring, does WORLD WAR Z stand up as a slice of cinema? Opening on a droning soundtrack, akin to ENTER THE VOID, hopes are instantly raised of an epic horror. It doesn’t take long for that hankering to dissipate. The first action scene comes after we’ve been introduced to Gerry (Pitt) and his family, who are given little to do other then be screaming, nagging, catatonic, annoying. His impetus for his eventual return to the fold of the United Nations, to save humanity, as no one else can, is them – a mawkish gloop meant to sustain him. There’s even a point where his wife (Mireille Enos), out of harm’s way, calls on a satellite phone, the ring alerts zombies around him to attack. With STAR TREK and the latest MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, there was a moment suggested where big cinema was leaning towards teamwork, as the realistic solution to world conundrums, rather than the Rambo one-man is all it takes scenarios.
These undead have grown super-powers since crossing over; they are athletes, sprinting and hurling themselves into metal without damage. Once munched, it takes just 12 seconds for people to die and re-animate. What?! WORLD WAR Z talks about nature and science. There seems to be little thought behind the mechanics of the human body. When up and running, literally, they are so adroit they can take soldiers unaware on a deserted airfield. But what are they hurrying for? All they seem to do is take a bite. Not after sustenance apparently. What’s powering their motion? Bloodless then. So there are none wandering around in bits. At one hilarious point a zombie is sliding around the floor as if maimed, and then hears a human, gets up, and pelts along a corridor. Not since PROMETHEUS have I encountered a movie so ill thought out and illogical.
There are very many questions raised as to why characters are doing what they’re doing. It would grate us both dear reader to catalogue them. I understand that projects of this scale don’t always have a handle on keeping all the plates spinning, but when so much crockery is crashing on the floor around you, one cannot avoid noticing the mounting lack of attention to detail.
Don’t get me started on the last third.
In Philadelphia and Jerusalem there are odd moments of striking imagery, but the man wielding the megaphone is Marc Forster, who proves, once again after the disastrously directed QUANTUM OF SOLACE, that he does not know how to present action set-pieces. They are just a blur of camera whips and fast editing, leaving the geography of a scene a mystery.
What I saw felt like a rough edit: The 3D distracted, the sound was muffled, and scenes just chucked together artlessly. Remakes are usually lazy and cynical, but on this occasion, I don’t mind if someone takes another stab at WORLD WAR Z.
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