Go in open minded - and hope for a sequel...

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2013)

Well, I've seen it today in 3D. First of all, I actually didn't mind 3D, although normally I hate it. I guess it's because the movie was obviously made in 2D, so the 3D effects that were added later on didn't really rape my eyes. And there are several of scenes in which 3D really gives you a sense of depth and scale.
Oh, I also read both books and knew beforehand that the movie doesn't really follow the storyline.
To sum it up: it's a really nice zombie flick.
Perhaps a bit too nice, since the aimed PG13 rating hides away something that is a staple of all zombie movies: gore. If you're a gore fan, there's NONE here. I mean zero. This movie is gore-free. Gore is implied, it's part of the storyline, but you don't actually get to see it. Kinda like soft porn.
The story follows Gerry Lane, an ex UN investigator who finds himself and his family engulfed in the developing world wide pandemic. The story quickly jumps from a nice family setting into running for their lives and we get a glimpse of how fast this thing is spreading, of the panic that ensues, the collapse of the modern society etc.
Gerry's skills as a UN investigator are his get-out-of-jail card, since he is rescued by remaining military forces and sent off with a SEAL team to figure out the source of the infection in order to procure a vaccine.
From there on, we follow Gerry around the world and learn little bits of information that help us paint the global disaster that seems to be getting worse by the minute.
The action is non-stop. There's really no slow parts, it's a jump from one action packed scene to another and just as we barely catch a breath, the zeeks start pouring over walls, ever eager to take a bite at the closest human.
CGI scenes are epic. There's no better way to describe it. We have never seen zombies like this, literally huge pouring masses of them, rolling through cities like an unstoppable river of hungry undead. This is a great concept and it's kind of a shame they showed some of those scenes in the trailer. Still, seeing them again is breathtaking.
The ride is really full of thrills, and while some of the plot devices seem too simple, it's easy to understand how hard it is to film a global story like this and still keep it in focus. There's not much time for character development, so except our hero and his family, we don't really get to know much about others. Which is actually also kind of understandable, because, as anyone who's ever been in a war, you basically don't have time to care that much about others. You're looking out for yourself and your closest family. Brad Pitt offers a good performance, as well as the supporting cast.
The bad things about WWZ... Well, there are several. First of all, I can't say the screenwriters managed to paint the global picture as much as I'd hoped for. I know it's very hard thing to do, but still. The climax is basically an anti-climax. It's a quiet ending that more then obviously states it's intention to reveal more in the possible sequel.
It basically tells us that this is just the begging, it even takes a couple of clear hints from the books, which leads me to believe that if they ever make a sequel, it will follow the books more closely. And I hope they will.
The lack of gore is disappointing. We live in a time when there's a split zombie head every week on The Walking Dead. I expected more. Also, I'm not too keen on the concept of super-fast, super-strong zombies. Aforementioned The Walking Dead proved that you can do very impressive stuff even with walkers.
The thing that strikes me the most is the fact that in terms of revelations, everything is really, really toned down. There's no epochal findings, there's no grand discoveries, or gotcha scenes, it all sort of happens... Well, like in real life, I suppose. And this is something that is also the underline of the book. While it offers much more details and stories from around the world, it deals with the subject at hand in a basic "trying to survive" way.
So, in the end, the 116 minutes went by very quickly. I was definitively entertained, scared and left wanting for more in the end. With all that said, I would recommend you do go and see the movie.