More of a disaster movie than an action or horror movie but it's not always a disaster.

Rating: 5/10 (10 July 2013)

Despite zombies being a cult-hit for decades and decades and a favourite of indie filmmakers, it feels like only now it's hitting the mainstream. The last 12 months is already home to three of the top five zombie movies in the box office with Hotel Transylvania, Warm Bodies and now World War Z at number one. It was only a matter of time there would be a blockbuster zombie movie with a big star to sell it. If the concept of a blockbuster zombie movie is to simply to take it to an international and epic scale then that's enough to get me intrigued, if not excited. It's just a shame that it means the filmmakers can never make up their minds with what the damn movie will be about. World War Z throws us into the action with absolutely no investment into the characters at all then expects us to be excited. With it's inevitable PG-13 rating, it cuts from all the gore having the core problem that plagued The Hunger Games - it's about the one thing it's not allowed to show.
I love Brad Pitt, I think he's a great actor and his wallet is especially great for contemporary indie cinema, he certainly did make the film much more watchable. The only reason I wanted to see this was to support him as the film reportedly had massive production problems. Unfortunately the problems are quite evident as some scenes feel cut short and simple and stupid. The problem with all these new zombie movies is that each one has to set up the world and each time it's dull. The last zombie movie that did it efficiently was Shaun of the Dead and the last movie that worked was Zombieland which completely sidelined the origin of the zombies and was much better for it. Granted, World War Z does have some good ideas I liked scattered around such as Pitt's character going to commit suicide if he turned into a zombie and North Korea removing everyone's teeth. But the flaws definitely outweigh them. The amount the protagonist survives and the contrivances to get the plot to where they want it is a bit much. Characters seem to react in quite unrealistic ways, a very clear trope of a blockbuster with no focus. But at the very least it's consistent.
I keep forgetting that Marc Forster is essentially a director-for-hire. He impressed me far too much with Stranger Than Fiction that his output before and after is dishearteningly disappointing. As Quantum of Solace proves, he can't direct action. I didn't like the cinematography here, it's too hand-held and washed out whereas I wanted something cinematic. I actually quite liked the epic shots of the zombies, particularly the one where they clamber over each other to get over the great wall. It was only until the small scale third act that it was saved from being mediocre. While the action/setpiece scenes did admittedly get better and better by a little bit, it was only until the end when the film had suspense. Perhaps it was due to the context of the adventure that preceded it where the stakes felt high to the audience that made it better, but I definitely thought it brought the whole film to being at least average. World War Z is technically a disaster movie and not an action or horror movie and it's at its best when there isn't much disaster.
5/10