"World War Z" Has Enough Thrills (and Zombies) to Keep You On Edge

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcwTxRuq-uk&w=560&h=315]

I’ll be honest, I was expecting another run of the mill apocalypse zombie movie. Lots of gore, zombies, action with no real purpose, and a predictable story line…well, I was most pleasantly surprised. This movie turned out to be great. For a zombie movie, it was really well done. Brad Pitt (playing Gerry Lane) holds the movie together with brilliant acting and an on-screen charisma that really holds you in. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he still has it.

The intro sequence is really nifty, sliding panes that have focus and blur, that fades away to a family. Gerry Lane (Pitt) is a former U.N. investigator (news reporter? solider? U.N. detective? don’t really know for sure) that is a great father and loving husband. The kids are getting ready to go to school and literally not even 10 minutes into the movie, the action starts and you see zombies. The movie really doesn’t twiddle their thumbs; they throw you right into the outbreak. Being the investigator that he is, Lane sees a zombie bite a human and it takes 12 seconds for the human to turn. I really liked this touch.

Another nice touch was when Lane got zombie blood spat in his face, he rushed out onto a building roof and stood at the edge while he counted to himself. In case he turned he would fall and not hurt his family. These little details are what make the movie shine.

Lane and family eventually get rescued because of his U.N. connections and Lane goes on a journey to find Patient Zero. There are moments were you’re thinking “oh my god, that person’s an idiot! WHY!?” and that just adds more charm to the movie. The movie definitely stretches whether or not that could happen, but it is still kept within the realm of possibility. You really don’t think about it during the movie because you’re drawn in and all you want is for the characters to succeed.

I’ve been reading and apparently the last act of the movie was reshot and added after the movie was pre-screened. I’m sure as hell glad they did, because that last part was great. It pulled the movie together and it shifted from action crazy to suspense and thriller, this is really where your heart starts pounding.

All in all, I would definitely recommend seeing this movie because it’s a zombie movie, but it has a new flavor to it and Brad Pitt certainly helps. And maybe it’ll happen to your audience, but in ours there were screams within the first 20 minutes of the movie. Guess it was that startling too.

PROS:

• Great pacing.
• The zombies were awesome…they each had little quirks too, which was a nice touch…and one of them was just plain freaking’ scary. Like…literally….O_O
• Tasteful “horror,” not the RAH IN YOUR FACE! Did I scare you? kind.
• Actually being suspenseful.
• The CGI was pretty damn good.
• Awesome soundtrack!
• You actually feel scared…like, heart-pounding, on edge scared because you don’t know what the heck is going to happen next.

CONS:

• It’s nothing like the book. Seriously. Even the author himself said the only thing they kept was the title. It shouldn’t have been called World War Z…I’m surprised that Max Brooks actually endorsed it. That’s the only bad thing I can say about it though.
• There were some unanswered questions in the movie, but I won’t say due to spoilers. Nothing major.

SHOULD YOU SEE IT? YES