World War Z has a rushed ending and is choppy as a whole, but thanks to pulse-pounding and wonderfully visceral set pieces succeeds as one hell of a thrill ride.

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2014)

World War Z has an abrupt ending, and it isn't much of a cohesive film, but rather a string of extremely intense, pulse pounding, and wonderfully visceral set pieces. Definitely see it for some summer bait to chomp on and one hell of a thrill ride.
The story: The plot, generally, is supposed to be set on Max Brook's (interestingly son of comic genius Mel Brooks) bestselling mock-non fiction book World War Z. The novel essentially is a retelling of the history of the world after a global outbreak of the zombie infection. It aims at portraying a satirical while realistic display of the brain chomping carnage, and provides all of the juicy political and social commentary any zombie fan could ask for. Now for the movie, they use the term "based on" fairly loosely. Cut most of the statistics and commentary, this movie is about action and white knuckle suspense. Newly retired UN worker Gerry (Brad Pitt) has chosen to settle down with his family, who reside in Philly, but his plans of relaxation are far from fruition as his life and world are hit stuck with a disaster. Zombie infections begin to breakout all over the world and here's the worst part; not only do these zombies run, they topple and climb over/up each other like ants. Also, without giving to much away, they can multiply faster than you can tie your shoe. Soon, cities crumble, and millions of the population have been "lost" as Gerry and his family are escorted to battleships in the Atlantic for protection. But Gerry is far from safe as he is called upon to help aid research and fight against the plague across the world, and let's just say that things get tasty.
The good: The film's action set pieces are genuinely spectacular and create some of the most nail-biting and intense moments of celluloid that I have experienced since Zero Dark Thirty. They are big, bad-ass, and also very in range. While some have big-scale moments of terrifying moments of awe, think back to the ant-like antagonists, others are quieter and build up to an explosive boil of terror and excitement. The great pacing also truly helps create the fluid nerve- racking energy that is so present during these scenes. Pitt is also good as the lead and is subtlety charismatic and like-able as our reluctant survivor. The rest of the cast is strong and do a perfectly serviceable job. The special effects are solid and create many frightening and spooky visuals of carnage throughout the film.
The bad: The film has been notable for being a partial disaster in it's production and writing and it does slightly show. The film reminded me more of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), or a Mission Impossible; it skipped around from enjoyable scene to scene, but you don't always have a clear reason why. The ending also cuts the film of a little to easily and leaves more of an implied resolution instead of a more finite and tactile one. Also the action is far to often shot in some scenes with shaky-cam, and it becomes at times distracting and or confusing. I also wish we had some more close ups of our blood thirsty protagonists. There is one entertaining use of social commentary in the movie, but I wish that it would take the time to make a few more clever insights into the potential-filled lore.
My take: World War Z isn't as much of a scary movie, but rather one that is immensely thrilling and suspenseful. It isn't prefect, but it sure is a nice slice of summer entertainment that will get your heart going, even if you leave the theater wishing for a little more food for thought.