MOVIE OF THE WEEK #2: WORLD WAR Z
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Fana Mokoena, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Matthew Fox, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrov, Ludi Boeken, Peter Capaldi, Pierfrancesco, Ruth Negga and Elyes Gabel
WRITER(S): Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard & Damon Lindelof (screenplay); Michael Straczynski & Matthew Michael Carnahan (screen story) and Max Brooks (original novel on which the film is based)
DIRECTOR(S): Marc Forster
WEB SITE: http://www.worldwarzmovie.com/
60 SECOND PLOT SYNOPSIS: Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) was once an important guy with the United Nations (UN for short). But now, he's a stay at home dad to his daughters Constance (Sterling Jerins) and Rachel (Abigail Hargrove) and a dedicated husband to his wife Karin (Mireille Enos). And he's quite happy.
Then, he and the family get stuck in traffic in Philadelphia – only to quickly learn that something is quickly amiss once people start bashing into car windows, attacking and biting people. And once his old contact (Fana Mokoena) at the UN calls him back into active duty in exchange for his family's well-being, Gerry knows he has a tough choice to make.
But if he doesn't make the right choice, the rest of the world might not survive ...
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST: Die-hard Brad Pitt fans, people who like zombie/apocalypse movies in all forms and sizes, people who enjoy the average summer popcorn box-office blockbuster
Then, he and the family get stuck in traffic in Philadelphia – only to quickly learn that something is quickly amiss once people start bashing into car windows, attacking and biting people. And once his old contact (Fana Mokoena) at the UN calls him back into active duty in exchange for his family's well-being, Gerry knows he has a tough choice to make.
But if he doesn't make the right choice, the rest of the world might not survive ...
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST: Die-hard Brad Pitt fans, people who like zombie/apocalypse movies in all forms and sizes, people who enjoy the average summer popcorn box-office blockbuster
WHO WON'T LIKE THIS FILM: Die-hard George Romero fans, die-hard Walking Dead fans, people upset the movie takes a different format than the book and GREATLY diverts from it, people who get tired of the same format of summer popcorn box-office blockbusters
BOTTOM LINE – IS IT GOOD, GREAT, BAD OR DOWNRIGHT AWFUL? It's good enough ... But far from a classic.
WHAT'S GOOD (OR BAD) ABOUT IT?: World War Z is an effective in much the way a sixth man is on the average NBA playoff team. Not a James Harden-level sixth man who could be a starter kind-of way, but more an effective veteran like Ray Allen-way – or more so like Denzel Washington as Ray Allen's dad in He Got Game when he taught him how to win at the game of life. But basketball analogies aside, World War Z is an entertaining zombie picture ... But it lacks any distinctive quality about it to make it a long-lasting, impactful movie save for the invention of jumping, tower-stacking zombies.
Sure, there are some good tense moments in World War Z and the acting in question isn't that questionable; Daniella Kertesz is particularly great as Segen, a female Israeli soldier who gets caught in the crossfire once Pitt's character travels to Jerusalem. But that's part of the problem – the secondary characters (and the non-famous people) are far more interesting in World War Z than Pitt is, who is a standard "hero-must-save-the-day" character you could swap into about a dozen flicks and not have the feel of the movie change.
Sadly, you don't even get to spend that much time with the characters, for all we know is that Pitt loves his family and has to stop the zombie apocalypse. Every other character is just along for the ride, knows the world is in peril and is fighting to stop it. With some character development, you might feel more attached to these people, which in turn is what makes Kertesz's performance the lone stand out in the movie. Director Marc Forster is known for character-driven stories (Monster's Ball, Stranger Than Fiction, etc.), so it's a shame that his first stab at a summer blockbuster fails to deliver people who do little more than run, shoot, shrug and scream when attacked. It's one thing if the characters in your film are expendable; it's another thing if the film treats its characters as expendable and therein lies the difference. You get no real sense of who these people are and why you should care about them; all you know is they're going to be killed if they don't fight back, period.
Likewise, everyone knows that zombie-related TV movies have a new bar to reach in the wake of successes like the previously mentioned, extra-gritty Walking Dead, 28 Days Later and the successful remake of Dawn of the Dead ... World War Z does get into the gritty social commentary found in its novel, it doesn't really get into the emotional struggles of its characters as they deal with a changing, survival-at-all-costs world and it definitely doesn't get as dark as some of its peers. Nope, this is an action movie through-and-through where you get a hero (Pitt) facing a problem (zombies) and he must save the world. It's not to suggest that the nearly 2 hour affair isn't enjoyable; it's just not anything special. This is literally fighting zombies with bullets, bombs and thankfully, for the film's last 30 minutes (which are by FAR the best in the film), some stealth. No more, no less.
And if you're going to watch people running for their lives from the undead, it would be a little bit better if the movie you're attending had a little more life to it.
WHAT'S GOOD (OR BAD) ABOUT IT?: World War Z is an effective in much the way a sixth man is on the average NBA playoff team. Not a James Harden-level sixth man who could be a starter kind-of way, but more an effective veteran like Ray Allen-way – or more so like Denzel Washington as Ray Allen's dad in He Got Game when he taught him how to win at the game of life. But basketball analogies aside, World War Z is an entertaining zombie picture ... But it lacks any distinctive quality about it to make it a long-lasting, impactful movie save for the invention of jumping, tower-stacking zombies.
Sure, there are some good tense moments in World War Z and the acting in question isn't that questionable; Daniella Kertesz is particularly great as Segen, a female Israeli soldier who gets caught in the crossfire once Pitt's character travels to Jerusalem. But that's part of the problem – the secondary characters (and the non-famous people) are far more interesting in World War Z than Pitt is, who is a standard "hero-must-save-the-day" character you could swap into about a dozen flicks and not have the feel of the movie change.
Sadly, you don't even get to spend that much time with the characters, for all we know is that Pitt loves his family and has to stop the zombie apocalypse. Every other character is just along for the ride, knows the world is in peril and is fighting to stop it. With some character development, you might feel more attached to these people, which in turn is what makes Kertesz's performance the lone stand out in the movie. Director Marc Forster is known for character-driven stories (Monster's Ball, Stranger Than Fiction, etc.), so it's a shame that his first stab at a summer blockbuster fails to deliver people who do little more than run, shoot, shrug and scream when attacked. It's one thing if the characters in your film are expendable; it's another thing if the film treats its characters as expendable and therein lies the difference. You get no real sense of who these people are and why you should care about them; all you know is they're going to be killed if they don't fight back, period.
Likewise, everyone knows that zombie-related TV movies have a new bar to reach in the wake of successes like the previously mentioned, extra-gritty Walking Dead, 28 Days Later and the successful remake of Dawn of the Dead ... World War Z does get into the gritty social commentary found in its novel, it doesn't really get into the emotional struggles of its characters as they deal with a changing, survival-at-all-costs world and it definitely doesn't get as dark as some of its peers. Nope, this is an action movie through-and-through where you get a hero (Pitt) facing a problem (zombies) and he must save the world. It's not to suggest that the nearly 2 hour affair isn't enjoyable; it's just not anything special. This is literally fighting zombies with bullets, bombs and thankfully, for the film's last 30 minutes (which are by FAR the best in the film), some stealth. No more, no less.
And if you're going to watch people running for their lives from the undead, it would be a little bit better if the movie you're attending had a little more life to it.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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