A Competent, if Mostly Forgettable, Zombie-Squasher

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2014)

Strip away the title and any associations with the source material and this is a mildly above-average action/horror hybrid. It's nailed the gritty, vivid tone I expect of a dawning modern zombie apocalypse - the panic, confusion and outright helplessness of civilian life at ground zero - but does gradually get carried away in terms of scope. Brad Pitt as not just humanity's last great scientific hope, but also its vigilant watchdog and bombastic action hero, is something of a reach and smells like several characters were mashed together for the sake of simplicity. In a few instances, World War Z tests the waters of political and social reactions, enduring themes of the novel, but these are contrived token efforts at best and certainly not the film's forte. It's generally content to simply flush the screen with crumbling cityscapes and spitting, sprinting, screaming infected hordes, both of which perform quite well. At moments it's intense, shocking and borderline iconic, but storyline depth is an Achilles' heel, and most of the third act plays out like a bland, predictable obligation.