Film: World War Z

Director: Marc Forster
Genre: Action
Source: USA (2013)
Rating: PG-13
Location/Format: Georgia Theater Company
Grade: C+

Though I can join the chorus of "It's not like the book!" (because it's not), I don't really want to dwell on that too much. First, because of course it's not. They're different mediums, and the kind of sprawling story the book tells would not really work in a film (maybe in a tv series, which I would love to see). Second, because it's been so long since I read the book I can't remember a ton of specifics. What I can say is that the book is about small bands of people coming together to fight an unstoppable force. The movie is about Brad Pitt saving the world. 

Now, don't get me wrong. There's a lot to like in a movie about Brad Pitt saving the world. He remains a compelling hero, and though his relationship with his family doesn't have a whole lot of depth or development, a guy looking to protect his wife and kids is not the worst of motivations for an action star to have. Pitt is a solid actor, and he plays the often bleak scenes of the film pretty well. 

My problems with this film are more structural and visual than dramatic. First of all, the film creates the "World War" part of the story simply by having Pitt travel to various locations and engage in big set pieces. Some of these are pretty solid--the initial attack in New York and the rain sequences in Korea are both compelling and intense. The film (and here's a spoiler) pulls a nice reversal by setting up Brad Pitt's travels with a virologist (I think--some kind of scientist whose importance is stressed) and then killing him immediately on arrival. It is a strong moment as you wonder "Now what?" and "Is anyone safe?" but then it becomes the Brad Pitt travel show: Korea! Israel! Planes! England! This little tour of the world (including apparently the last commercial airline flight, which, like all commercial airline flights, is full of idiots) ultimately feels hollow and leaves questions unexplored--I may be stupid, but I still don't get why exactly Israel got their walls finished just in time--because one guy decided there might really be zombies?

The "Z" part of the title is the other thing that didn't quite work for me. WWZ's zombies are the "fast" kind, and the filmmaker's repeatedly draw parallels between them and animals: they swarm, they click their teeth, they run. While this rabid behavior does create some good chase sequences, the zombies felt a little silly to me--too CGI-looking in big sequences (I had hoped the swarming/climbing from the trailer would look better in the film. It doesn't) and a little bit comical looking in the close-up scenes. Fast zombies have been done before, and for me the zombies here don't hold up to the intensity of the zombies in 28 Days Later, one of my favorite zombie movies. Maybe it's because it's hard to do a PG-13 zombie movie and still have the creatures themselves be frightening, since you can't really show their viciousness. Anyway, the zombies were a crushing force, yes, but lots of people were just doing stupid things too, so a lot of the conflicts just seemed dumb.

Anyway, it was entertaining enough for the theaters, but pretty forgettable. I had heard there was an alternate ending filmed involving a Russian conscription, months in servitude, and Brad Pitt's wife basically selling herself to survive. If that's so, the ending we got (small scale as it was, after the big sequences earlier in the film) really was probably a better fit. It just wasn't great, either.

Still, World War Z the tv series. That's an idea I could get behind...

Alternate Film Title: "Brad Pitt Is the Luckiest Man Alive"