"I'm Legend" on a higher level

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2014)

Quote : Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature.
The movie looks like "I am Legend", but on a higher level. I thought it was an exciting and wonderful action disaster movie to sit back and watch it from your couch, with a bowl of salted peanuts, on a Friday night. The zombie concept plays a major role but ultimately it's not a real zombie movie. Where a zombie movie emphasis on bringing the pictures as gross as possible (dismembering human individuals f.e.), WWZ emphasis on the visualization of the mass hysteria that was caused by a rapidly spreading deadly virus. In my view, these shots were magnificent visualized at certain times. The mass moving like running water and how a group of brainless zombies are jumping at everything while chattering with their teeth. For me, the term zombie was shown in a very different way. And it was a very successful way eventually.
The difference between WWZ and "I am legend" is not that mankind is the cause of the whole disaster, but Mother Nature made sure of this. The ultimate weapon against the calamity in the form of a terminal illness causing the creatures to leave you alone, was a new and refreshing idea. Also, it was made ​​credible by saying that this was also applied in the animal kingdom to avoid sick targets. I compare WWZ rather with a movie like "Outbreak", but on a larger scale.
Pitt played a more than creditable role. I found him masterly in "Se7en" and "Inglourious Basterds" but this interpretation may be added to his list of the better performances. He continues to keep that boyish look and always plays with such nonchalance. In WWZ the coolness in which he approached certain situations was overwhelming. The family situation wasn't a reason to go all corny and mellow and a female Israeli soldier ultimately became the ultimate co-protagonist.
There were some weak points for me : 1. The totally unnecessary part with the young scientist who shot himself through the head after a slip in a rather dorky way. 2. The role that Israel supposedly played. First I thought it was a critical look at the state Israel. It looked as if they premeditated completed the protective wall. Sounds a bit the same as the rumors that apparently they warned their employers in the Twin Towers before the disaster happened. I must admit that the images of the accumulating zombies provided hallucinatory images. 3. The seemingly impossible quest for Patient Zero by Brad Pitt goes quite smoothly.
Despite these minor reservations, most images were tremendously exciting and nerve wracking. The final scenes in the WHO building reminded me several times of the game "Half-life". Beautifully imaged with those destroyed labs and deserted corridors.
Clealy I found it a very nice movie. And if it would ever come to a global pandemonium, but not with zombies but a kind of Ebola version that rapidly spreads around , I already have a bit of a visual view of how things will turn out then !
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