"World War Z" - directed by Marc Forster
World War Z is another one of those movies that had a troubled production.
Its release date was put back while the studio desperately tried to repair the allegedly disastrous first cut.
There were re-writes, re-shoots... Brad Pitt was rumoured to have argued incessantly with director Marc Forster.
The author of the book even went on record saying that the finished movie bore no resemblance to the novel it was supposed to be based on.
And now the finished film arrives in a weekend of advanced screenings designed to get people talking in the offices and the playgrounds the week before 'proper' release so that punters will flood the opening weekend and turn the sow's ear into a silk purse.
But for my money troubled production doesn't necessarily translate into a nightmare end result.
"Waterworld" was a famous example of a movie that ran over schedule, over budget and even had a director (Kevin Reynolds) fired by the star (Kevin Costner).
Ask anyone and they'll tell you that it was a box office bomb.
But they are wrong.
On the whole "Waterworld" did fine.
It may not have been the blockbuster that Universal wanted but it made back $90 million more than its $175 million budget.
That doesn't factor in dvd sales, rentals and tv revenue (admittedly nor does it factor in marketing spend).
But none of that should concern us.
The only important thing is the question of whether the movie entertained us or not.
Well, I like "Waterworld" quite a lot.
As it happens I like "World War Z" quite a bit too.
Troubled production or not, this is a fun movie and whether you like it or not there is no denying that it is never boring.
There just isn't time for it to be.
Things are all swell and fine in the opening scene.
We see Gerry and Karin Lane (Pitt and Enos) awoken from their suburban slumber by their two daughters.
After a quick pancake breakfast the family are off into the crowded streets of Philadelphia in their station wagon.
And then the zombie plague happens.
After less than ten minutes the movie is off and running as the family gets caught up in car crashes, zombie attacks, shootings and a desperate struggle to get to a safe spot as hordes of infected people flood into view.
Gerry is no mere family man though.
He was formerly a UN investigator and soon he is contacted by his former boss who arranges extraction to the safety of a military ship off the coast of New York.
Gerry is told that his family will be kept safe on the vessel so long as he agrees to go on a mission escorting a researcher on a trip to South Korea to find a cure for the plague.
And this will become the meat of the beast - Gerry traveling far and wide on a world tour following theories, rumours and leads.
By placing Pitt at the centre the film does itself a huge favour.
Firstly Pitt is a charismatic lead.
Even when he is playing Daddy and Husband he looks comfortable in the role.
Maybe it is his well known similar real life role but whatever the reason I was pleasantly surprised at how well the character fits him.
Which brings me to the second point....
Irrespective of the former requirement as nurturer-provider, when it comes time to put a boot up a zombies butt he proves similarly adept.
Gerry is a man who thinks fast and acts fast.
When a shotgun blast to an infected mouth results in some blood in his own mouth Gerry's first move is to run to the edge of the roof of the highrise he and his family are ascending and count out the time that it will take should the infection also take hold of him.
Should he become infected he will fall to his death rather than endanger his wife and children.
It's a small detail that nonetheless speaks volumes about his character.
It also foreshadows a moment later with another major character in which his lightning fast (and very drastic) actions save a life.
And here we come to my last point regarding Pitt's front and centre placement in the film.
It allows for pacing that can only be described as breakneck.
Holy hell this thing zips along.
That small moment of character revealing action is important because there isn't a lot of time outside of action scenes for Pitt to develop Gerry's character.
Arriving in South Korea immediately places Gerry in danger.
Something devastating happens that changes his mission but he finds a new lead and is soon off on his way to the next destination.
There he again discovers new clues as to the cause of the plague but is again put in grave danger as everything goes pear shaped in spectacular fashion.
And so it goes - move, clue, turn to custard - repeat.
There are echoes of Roland Emmerich's ridiculous (but fun) "2012" here but "World War Z" is executed always with an eye on keeping things taut and tense and exciting.
"2012" had gonzo action scenes but was way too long and poorly paced.
Not so with Forster's film.
Gerry is always a mere ten minutes away from another sticky situation that you wonder how on earth he will get out of.
My favourite is a fantastically thrilling airline flight.
Gerry's solution to this particular problem is terrific.
Actors like Matthew Fox and James Badge Dale get good billing on the opening credits but this is Brad Pitt's baby and no one else gets more than a look in.
The exception may be the wonderful character Segen - an Israeli soldier who tags along for the second half of the film.
She provides some good action moments but also acts as a suitably gutsy companion to Gerry allowing a lot more humanity to creep into proceedings than if Pitt had been alone.
With the breakneck pacing she is a well needed character in this regard.
Visually the film is excellent with nice special effects throughout.
They won't give WETA or ILM cause for jealousy but they do the job very nicely indeed.
Anyone who has seen the trailers will know what they are in for with endless shots of the hordes of infected forming human piles to ascend high walls and crash through barricades and barrages of gunfire.
The 3D is pretty much a waste of time with few instances where it adds any depth or excitement to the action.
My advice on this one is go 2D.
There are no flying limbs to come out of the screen at your face.
For what is essentially a zombie flick it is noticeably lacking in the gore department.
This is largely a bloodless affair and amazingly suffers not a jot as a result.
In fact this movie is highly effective in every regard but a couple.
Whenever we get a closer look at an infected person they just aren't scary.
Twice I found myself laughing.
There is a black female zombie who is used to demonstrate how savage and terrifying the zombies are but bashing her head against her perspex cage in her lab coat with her big googly eyes just made her look comical.
The second up close zombie gnashes his teeth together in a fashion that is intended to make him look desperate to chomp Gerry's face but succeeds only in making him look cartoony.
The bigger concern is an ending that fails abysmally.
If the troubled production is ever evident it is here.
The climactic action scene is thrilling and uplifting but the epilogue scene that follows feels rushed with a closing narration that comes over preachy and false.
Regardless "World War Z" is fun, fast and exciting and is undeniably a great way to spend a couple of hours.
His hair may be fascinating almost to the point of distraction but Pitt is all kinds of good in this one.
I've always considered him an actor more than a star.
I would have preferred better, gorier zombies and an upping of the violence ante but regardless these are my preferences and just little niggles ultimately.
The ending needed more work but it's not terrible - just not as good as it should be.
These concerns don't hurt "World War Z" much at all.
It's great without being amazing, thrilling without being gory and about three times as much fun as "A Good Day To Die Hard" and "Star Trek: Into Darkness" combined.
Not bad for a movie that was doomed to fail huh?
Its release date was put back while the studio desperately tried to repair the allegedly disastrous first cut.
There were re-writes, re-shoots... Brad Pitt was rumoured to have argued incessantly with director Marc Forster.
The author of the book even went on record saying that the finished movie bore no resemblance to the novel it was supposed to be based on.
And now the finished film arrives in a weekend of advanced screenings designed to get people talking in the offices and the playgrounds the week before 'proper' release so that punters will flood the opening weekend and turn the sow's ear into a silk purse.
But for my money troubled production doesn't necessarily translate into a nightmare end result.
"Waterworld" was a famous example of a movie that ran over schedule, over budget and even had a director (Kevin Reynolds) fired by the star (Kevin Costner).
Ask anyone and they'll tell you that it was a box office bomb.
But they are wrong.
On the whole "Waterworld" did fine.
It may not have been the blockbuster that Universal wanted but it made back $90 million more than its $175 million budget.
That doesn't factor in dvd sales, rentals and tv revenue (admittedly nor does it factor in marketing spend).
But none of that should concern us.
The only important thing is the question of whether the movie entertained us or not.
Well, I like "Waterworld" quite a lot.
As it happens I like "World War Z" quite a bit too.
Troubled production or not, this is a fun movie and whether you like it or not there is no denying that it is never boring.
There just isn't time for it to be.
 |
| Enjoy these quiet family moments.... they won't last |
We see Gerry and Karin Lane (Pitt and Enos) awoken from their suburban slumber by their two daughters.
After a quick pancake breakfast the family are off into the crowded streets of Philadelphia in their station wagon.
And then the zombie plague happens.
After less than ten minutes the movie is off and running as the family gets caught up in car crashes, zombie attacks, shootings and a desperate struggle to get to a safe spot as hordes of infected people flood into view.
Gerry is no mere family man though.
He was formerly a UN investigator and soon he is contacted by his former boss who arranges extraction to the safety of a military ship off the coast of New York.
Gerry is told that his family will be kept safe on the vessel so long as he agrees to go on a mission escorting a researcher on a trip to South Korea to find a cure for the plague.
And this will become the meat of the beast - Gerry traveling far and wide on a world tour following theories, rumours and leads.
By placing Pitt at the centre the film does itself a huge favour.
Firstly Pitt is a charismatic lead.
Even when he is playing Daddy and Husband he looks comfortable in the role.
Maybe it is his well known similar real life role but whatever the reason I was pleasantly surprised at how well the character fits him.
Which brings me to the second point....
Irrespective of the former requirement as nurturer-provider, when it comes time to put a boot up a zombies butt he proves similarly adept.
 |
| Fans of running are in for a treat with this one |
When a shotgun blast to an infected mouth results in some blood in his own mouth Gerry's first move is to run to the edge of the roof of the highrise he and his family are ascending and count out the time that it will take should the infection also take hold of him.
Should he become infected he will fall to his death rather than endanger his wife and children.
It's a small detail that nonetheless speaks volumes about his character.
It also foreshadows a moment later with another major character in which his lightning fast (and very drastic) actions save a life.
And here we come to my last point regarding Pitt's front and centre placement in the film.
It allows for pacing that can only be described as breakneck.
Holy hell this thing zips along.
That small moment of character revealing action is important because there isn't a lot of time outside of action scenes for Pitt to develop Gerry's character.
Arriving in South Korea immediately places Gerry in danger.
Something devastating happens that changes his mission but he finds a new lead and is soon off on his way to the next destination.
There he again discovers new clues as to the cause of the plague but is again put in grave danger as everything goes pear shaped in spectacular fashion.
And so it goes - move, clue, turn to custard - repeat.
There are echoes of Roland Emmerich's ridiculous (but fun) "2012" here but "World War Z" is executed always with an eye on keeping things taut and tense and exciting.
"2012" had gonzo action scenes but was way too long and poorly paced.
Not so with Forster's film.
Gerry is always a mere ten minutes away from another sticky situation that you wonder how on earth he will get out of.
My favourite is a fantastically thrilling airline flight.
 |
| Segen (Daniella Kertesz) |
Actors like Matthew Fox and James Badge Dale get good billing on the opening credits but this is Brad Pitt's baby and no one else gets more than a look in.
The exception may be the wonderful character Segen - an Israeli soldier who tags along for the second half of the film.
She provides some good action moments but also acts as a suitably gutsy companion to Gerry allowing a lot more humanity to creep into proceedings than if Pitt had been alone.
With the breakneck pacing she is a well needed character in this regard.
Visually the film is excellent with nice special effects throughout.
They won't give WETA or ILM cause for jealousy but they do the job very nicely indeed.
Anyone who has seen the trailers will know what they are in for with endless shots of the hordes of infected forming human piles to ascend high walls and crash through barricades and barrages of gunfire.
The 3D is pretty much a waste of time with few instances where it adds any depth or excitement to the action.
My advice on this one is go 2D.
There are no flying limbs to come out of the screen at your face.
For what is essentially a zombie flick it is noticeably lacking in the gore department.
This is largely a bloodless affair and amazingly suffers not a jot as a result.
In fact this movie is highly effective in every regard but a couple.
Whenever we get a closer look at an infected person they just aren't scary.
Twice I found myself laughing.
There is a black female zombie who is used to demonstrate how savage and terrifying the zombies are but bashing her head against her perspex cage in her lab coat with her big googly eyes just made her look comical.
The second up close zombie gnashes his teeth together in a fashion that is intended to make him look desperate to chomp Gerry's face but succeeds only in making him look cartoony.
The bigger concern is an ending that fails abysmally.
If the troubled production is ever evident it is here.
The climactic action scene is thrilling and uplifting but the epilogue scene that follows feels rushed with a closing narration that comes over preachy and false.
Regardless "World War Z" is fun, fast and exciting and is undeniably a great way to spend a couple of hours.
His hair may be fascinating almost to the point of distraction but Pitt is all kinds of good in this one.
I've always considered him an actor more than a star.
He proved it early on with great work in "12 Monkeys", "True Romance", "Se7en" and "Fight Club" and his work here while not as strong as those perhaps is still very, very good indeed.
He is barely out of shot so it's just as well.
 |
| The action is frequent and very well executed in both staging and effects |
The ending needed more work but it's not terrible - just not as good as it should be.
These concerns don't hurt "World War Z" much at all.
It's great without being amazing, thrilling without being gory and about three times as much fun as "A Good Day To Die Hard" and "Star Trek: Into Darkness" combined.
Not bad for a movie that was doomed to fail huh?
| Rated | M for scenes of violence and horror |
| Running Time: | 116 minutes (1hr 48 mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Brad Pitt | --- Gerry Lane |
| Mireille Enos | --- Karin Lane |
| James Badge Dale | --- Captain Speke |
| Matthew Fox | --- Parajumper |
| Daniella Kertesz | --- Segen |
| David Morse | --- ex-CIA Agent |
| Peter Capaldi | --- W.H.O Doctor |
| Moritz Bleibtreu | --- W.H.O Doctor |
| Ludi Boeken | --- Jurgen Warmbrunn |
| Fana Mokoena | --- Thierry Umutoni |
| Elyes Gabel | --- Andrew Fassbach |
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