Directed by:
Marc ForsterComposer:
Marco BeltramiCast:
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, David Morse, דניאלה קרטס, James Badge Dale, David Andrews, Ludi Boeken, Matthew Fox, Moritz Bleibtreu, John Gordon Sinclair (more)VOD (5)
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UN employee and committed family man Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is forced to abandon his wife and children when a global pandemic hits, turning ordinary people into violent subhuman monsters with an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Due to the nature of his job, Gerry is deemed one of the very few people left on Earth with the ability to find the source of the virus and ultimately a cure, but will he be able to do so before the last remnants of humanity are completely eradicated? (Paramount Home Entertainment)
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A mixture of many incongruous interpretations and approaches to the zombie apocalypse theme. No surprise then that it couldn’t make a single coherent unit if it tried. But surprisingly, each one of these approaches is handled well in itself and so as the sum of many separate subsets it actually works; outstandingly so in the second half Jerusalem→ airplane→ Wales. Too bad about rating worries and so the lack of a darker tone and more gore in the final part. In the scenes where Pitt sinks his crowbar into a zombie’s head, not even Angelina would want to see a close-up of Brad’s face; whenever a drop of blood “threatens", the camera quickly pans up to Pitt’s tortured face. And considering how many times this happens, it’s almost ridiculous. Anyhow, I’m intrigued to see the potential director’s cut, because if I understand correctly, Forster had a vision, Pitt from his position of producer had a completely different one and, in the end, in the spirit of “the strongest dog gets to fuck", the studio slipped in its own version?
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In spite of all the media failures (being over-budget, reshoots), Forster presents a rather unconventional zombie spectacle that works more along the lines of a flamboyant action movie in which a middle-class family and the world around them are drowning. The brilliantly paced direction (supported by good editing) pushes forward a plot vacuum that boils down to the fact that it takes the title and two or three prominent geopolitical allusions from a brilliant book, whilst then treading its own path to get to its roots, i.e., the horror in the lab. However, having a tighter dramatic arc, not limited to alternating the three locations where the protagonist arrives and the undead horde a minute after him, would not have hurt the film. [I want the Battle of Moscow, at least as a bonus on Blu-ray] 3 ½.
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A passable summer blockbuster that could have done better, but trying to please the viewer’s greed it ended up as a visual one-bite snack with an unclear message. Forster presents the pandemic as Mother Nature’s way of making human trash pay for their sins, forcing them to eat themselves. The title sequence and the dulcet tones of The 2nd Law: Isolated System by Muse, a summing up by an deranged virologist (our greatest hope), this all indicates deeper thought. Then there’s a turn about when in War of the Worlds style we escape from the city (even Rachel is here) to get to a boat and then we travel the world with Brad - when I say the world, I mean basements in Korea, Jerusalem (substituted by Malta) and Britain. The whole thing holds together weirdly and it seemed to me that the storytelling structure had maybe been different (better) in a first version of the screenplay and the initial attack on Pitt’s family was meant to appear in some flashback. You can see that it’s a broken vase broke stuck back together again and it holds, but some of the pieces were newly made to fit some gaping holes. The ending in the lab is the only scene with the genre cliché of terrifying, shuffling zombies, while they are quite successful in changing them in the rest of the movie. These stiffs remind me more of Smith’s colleagues in I Am Legend. On the other hand, some individual scenes are filmed exceptionally well, they are engaging (the 3D really bothers me in dark interiors), and work excellently standing alone. The ideas that the creators pull out of the bag are sometimes very novel and refreshing. The toothless David Morse, the burned general’s tapping finger, the airplane and the laboratory chase. The mainstay of the movie is the conquest of Jerusalem, which takes your breath away. In fact, I liked it, despite all of my objections, but I can’t get rid of the feeling that this could have made a much better movie. It had the material for it... If I had to compare it to the book, I would just sadly agree that this wasn’t good.
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"Shit happens." Forster previously demonstrated his inability to direct clearly arranged action scenes in Quantum of Solace. Despite its misleading marketing, however, World War Z fortunately is not built on a foundation of action attractions. The most powerful weapon in its arsenal is its consistent use of the zombie genre’s social dimension in the manner of Romero. The constant switching between micro and macro perspectives shows that, when chaos breaks out, the individual knows just as little as the institutions, which realistically do not subordinate their interests to the individual’s personal safety (you are either with us or you’re on your own). The fact that the narrative is not limited to what one person or group of people knows makes it impossible to describe World War Z as a film that uses a video-game narrative structure in a well-thought-out way. Despite that, Gerry’s approach corresponds to the narrative model that game studios call “string of pearls”. Only after the storytelling potential of one setting has been fully exhausted (and the notional end of the level has been reached) is it possible to move on to a different setting. But this isn’t merely a matter of monotonously collecting information that leads to more information. On the one hand, the film defies expectations in how it humorously handles the element of (blind) chance and, on the other hand, it continuously changes the context in which it addresses the zombie contagion. It works its way from the dominant family context through the military, political and medical contexts back to the family context (whose supremacy is pointed out to us with varying degrees of emotional aggressiveness throughout the film). Not only does this confirm the use of the melodramatic formula that forms the basis of most Hollywood blockbusters (really, seeking out melodrama in everything is just one of my quirks), but the chosen narrative arc also nicely serves the film’s humanistic message encouraging us to not be ashamed of our weaknesses (our humanity, which makes us vulnerable, but which is also our most powerful weapon). Thanks to Brad Pitt’s solid performance, the film’s emotional level is not completely superfluous and I unabashedly admit that I was touched by Gerry’s written plea shortly before the end. In terms of distributing information and drawing parallels between the current political situation and the fictional zombie contagion, the clever entertainment ultimately pays a price for the film’s attempt to please too many different groups of viewers. As I have already mentioned, the action scenes are chaotic, the scenes resembling survival-horror games lack original ideas and atmosphere (because we know that there will be running and biting in a few moments anyway), some scenes lack logic (the rusty bicycles were supposed to be quieter than walking?) while forced product placement is prevalent in others (unless you want to see the vending-machine scene as a caustic commentary on consumerism). At any rate, World War Z hums along nicely, has the potential for an even better sequel and, among other films in today’s zombie genre, it is also exceptionally likable due to its tastefulness (which may be a contradiction in terms, but I personally didn’t mind that the crisis also impacted artificial brains, intestines and other delicacies). 75%
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Urgent, intense, with a slight intellectual touch. The finale is predictable around halfway through, but it does not diminish its dramatic and impressive quality in any way. It is technically brilliant and very fast-paced. This is the style that I have liked about Forster since Quantum of Solace, one that many condemn. I feel like it is slightly out of sync with today's time and many people can't digest it, but I perceive it as a very progressive aspect of his directing. Minimalistic in terms of acting and visuals, with minimal (depressive and gloomy) music, exceptionally raw and “realistic”, World War Z has an excellent feeling to it. The zombies are unbelievably believable and also one of the few that are taken seriously.
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