A new kind of zombie apocalypse

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2013)

When you first think of a zombie movie what do you see? Slow, limbering and relentless creatures getting mowed down by a group of survivors with a host of different weapons and insane amounts of gore and violence to go with probably a pretty crappy story. Well at least that's what I think of. My expectations for World War Z were fairly high, despite not ever reading the book. Well what I expected and what was presented was very different, and World War Z changes the game and the way you think of zombie movies.
The first thing that caught my attention was the PG-13 rating. As I mentioned, when I see a zombie themed movie I initially expect heavy blood and violence but it was clear right before the first scene that WWZ was going in a different direction. Instead of over-the-top violence, WWZ gets its thrills through mystery and the adaptive smarts of the lead characters through several extremely tense moments. There are the occasional traditional zombie action, where we see zombies being gunned down by the dozen, but they usually cut away quick and involve little to zero gore. However, the sheer scale of this zombie pandemic is enough to keep you entertained. At first I thought that the film missed out on some brutal action scenes that would make the movie more realistic and intense, but in retrospect, I feel as heavy gore would have taken away from what the movie was really about; the mystery of the pandemic's origin and the race against time to discover a cure.
Brad Pitt leads the cast as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations employee who is fighting to keep his family alive after a global zombie infection strikes leaving the world at it's knees. Eventually, Gerry is forced back into action and starts a mission that takes him around the globe in order to find where the infection started and if there is a cure. The plot is pretty straight forward, but what makes this movie unlike others of it's undead kind, is the pressure of finding a cure before the entire planet is lost. As stated, the mystery takes center stage rather than a pure survival story. While there are some plot holes, including some predictable moments, the story as a whole is solid.
Now to the undead. Zombies have been portrayed on numerous different forms over the years and in WWZ, they are terrifying. While they maintain some characteristics of classic zombies, like being very sensitive to noise, these zombies are brutally fast and large groups can devastate even the strongest forces. These types of zombies fare well in creating some thrilling scenes where escape is the only option. While some parts are predictable, the action sequences are exciting and powerful and the fast paced zombie style adds to that sense of vulnerability and urgency that a human might not make it out in time.
The cast is decent, lead by the aforementioned Brad Pitt. Pitt's character is really the only one who we really get to know well,and this is largely because Pitt gets nearly 100 percent of the screen, which isn't bad. Daniella Kertesz displays a strong female role as Segen, but doesn't develop enough to have real depth. Gerry's family doesn't get too deep either, but their presence in the opening of the film gives a larger sense of possible loss and puts more tension behind them trying to escape. Overall, the cast is incomplete and the movie suffers from poor character development, but Brad Pitt shines in the starring role.
World War Z without a doubt changes the way zombie themed movies are viewed. No longer do the undead have to be involved with absurd amounts of violence and gore. With WWZ, the rules are changed by creating a race against time thriller with the zombie sticker on it. Despite some plot issues and a mostly weak cast of characters, the high-level action scenes of adaptive tactics and escape from the undead will have you holding your breath, especially the highlight scene near the end of the movie.
The zombie apocalypse has evolved, and for the most part, it as evolved for the better in World War Z.
8.5/10