World War Z ? Written Review ? The Electric Playground

World War Z
Score: 8 out of 10

The apocalyptic zombie film World War Z was originally slated to arrive last December, but numerous production problems, reshoots, and an entirely new ending forced it to be delayed until now. Despite these troubles, I?m happy to report that the final product is a success, and will make most zombie fans happy.

There?s a scene early on when Brad Pitt and family seek temporary refuge from the walking dead by holding up inside an apartment building. This is the point in every other zombie movie where they?d fortify themselves in, board up the windows, bolt the doors, and scrounge up whatever weapons they can find for the long haul, but instead Pitt, in his infinite wisdom, declares that this will only get them killed for sure. In apocalyptic situations like this, he says, movement is life and it?s best to stay mobile. This is World War Z?s not-so-subtle jab at every other zombie movie ever made. Rather than localize the action in one place like an apartment, farmhouse, or shopping mall, Z shows you the entire apocalypse on a global scale, with Pitt taking you from country to country in a desperate bid to discover the source of the outbreak and find a cure.

Brad Pitt is not the hardest man to get behind, especially when he?s trying to save the human race, but if that?s not enough you can take sympathy in the fact that he?s doing it so that his wife and daughters don?t go extinct with the rest of us. The story is smart, and the characters are more sympathetic and likeable than the allegorical assholes we get in most zombie tales. If there?s one problem with the script, it?s that Pitt went to the Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds school of always managing to be the one guy in thousands who narrowly escapes every bad situation, but what did you expect? He?s Brad Pitt.

With a budget estimated at north of $200 million, this is easily the most expensive zombie film ever made, by far, but the good news is that all the money is up there on screen. It?s nice to see the undead genre get the epic treatment for once, complete with thousands of extras, real world locations, and helicopters that don?t go behind a hill before crashing. The zombies are creepy and there?s no point where they look fake. Purists will complain that they run, and even move in ant-like waves instead of shambling along like corpses, but again, World War Z is not trying to be your grandfather?s zombie movie. It?s wants to be bigger, meaner, and faster, and it?s got the dough to make it happen.

There?s no way a big Hollywood studio was going to spend $200 million on an R-rated film, zombies or not, so World War Z offers a toned-down PG-13 rating. Surprisingly, this horror aficionado wasn?t left hungry for more gore, with the notable exception of a few brief scenes where it was actually hard to tell what was going on because the filmmakers were clearly forced to cut out a few shots by the MPAA. The only other big flaw with World War Z is the fake 3D. It was shot in 2D and converted to the eye-popping third dimension after the fact. These conversions never look good, and when things are dark and fast moving it can even ruin the experience. Find a theatre showing it in 2D.

-Review written by Blake Siefken, follow me on Twitter!

Source: http://epdaily.tv/all/type-of/reviews/world-war-z-written-review/

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