The basic plot follows Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) as he and his
family at first flee their hometown, which is filling up with fast, dangerous
and hungry zombies. They flee to New Jersey, then ultimately to an armada of
military ships that have sought sanctuary on the open sea (in the novel, boats aren’t
as safe as they are here). Here Gerry is forced to take up his old job as a UN
investigator, so his family can stay on the ship, and go and find the source of
the cure, and hopefully a cure.
Pitt, as the central character, carries the film on his shoulders,
and does it well, considering his revolving door of partners, which restricts him
from creating any real kind of relationship. He is believable as an
investigator, as he moves and talks with a confidence of a man who doesn’t need
to prove his intelligence. Then when the action kicks off, and it does, he is
resourceful enough and tough enough to get through the frantic action.
The quality of the film, is determined by what made it into
the original script, and what was then reshot later on. The first two acts of the film, are thoroughly
enjoyable and entertaining as we follow Gerry across the globe, including two
great set pieces in Korea, a brilliant night time sequence involving the
refuelling of a plane whilst under attack from Zombies, or Zeek as the soldiers
call them. The second, is the highly advertised Israel section, arguably the
high point of the film, I won’t spoil any of the events in that section, but
conjours up a terrifying possibility of the zombie invasion.
Then the film drops off and we get a climax that removes the
tension and the world wide feel of the conflict, as well as giving us a happier
ending, the original was decidedly darker, but much more interesting. It’s just
unfortunate that the studio didn’t have the confidence to go with the original,
even if it wasn’t as safe or take the same amount of care in building a
franchise.
There are sequences where we see large amounts of zombies
and people running together and interacting, done with real people with
prosthetics, which are believable and some of the scariest in the film. There
are also a large amount of CGI shots that ruin the moment, obviously some can’t
be achieved with just practical effects. But this film seems scared of that
middle ground, of mixing well organized and crafted practical stunts and people,
then enhancing them with CGI. One of the biggest disappointments of World War Z, and there are only a few in
all honesty, was that it reminded me of I
Am Legend.
Go and experience this film, well not all of it, enjoy the
first two acts then leave the cinema, you’ll feel more satisfied. You can read
the original ending (or hopefully see it on the DVD) or just make up your own
one.
