Better then it should be

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2013)

World War Z had one of the most notorious and difficult production histories for a blockbuster, being disloyal to the source material having rewrites for its final act and 40 days of reshoots. It had disaster written all over it. But it turned out to be a well-made blockbuster and has more opportunity for a wider scope then most zombie films.
Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is a former investigator for the UN who now lives a happy family live in Philadelphia. But in the background are reports of strange events around the world when suddenly America is swamped with zombies and Gerry has to get his family to safety. Gerry and his family get to be on a US Navy ship, but to grantee that they are allowed to stay on the ship Gerry is ordered to investigate the source of the outbreak, leading him on a mission from South Korea, to Israel, to Wales.
One of the controversial aspects of World War Z was the fact that it given a PG-13 rating: but whilst the film lacks with blood and gore it is a film that does something no other zombie film could do, show the true scale of the zombie apocalypse. We see the international dimension of what happens and how different countries react and are affected. The director Marc Forster was strong at showing the breakdown of society in different forms, from the initial panic to a quieter aftermath.
The opening of the film was well done up until the initial zombie attacks, where Forster relied too much on hand-held cameras and quick cut editing. Of course it was meant to show the panic and confusion of the situation of zombies emerging, but it was more annoying than anything else. Fortunately the sequence in Jerusalem (in reality Valletta, Malta) where the Zombies breach the wall and the Israeli army has to fight them back or being chased in the narrow alleys. You can even look pass the ropey CGI effects that were used.
Forster does have a fast paced film for the most part with quieter moments allowed to breath with the final third being a bit slower. There is a find combination of drama and action, but there is a weird undercurrent of dark humour, from a man shooting himself in the head by accident and the actions of some zombies in the World Health Organisation Base. Added to that there seems to be a strange commentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict where the crisis unites the Israelis and Palestinians but their unity ends up leading to their destruction. There is also an even dodgier element where the head of Mossad revealed that the Israelis knew about the zombie outbreak and took actions to safeguard themselves. It could easily be argued that no one would have believed the Israelis, but another way to look at is it could be a commentary on conspiracy theories that Mossad knew about 9/11 and did not tell anyone about it. Or maybe I am reading too much into it.
World War Z is very similar to Outbreak and Contagion with Gerry trying to find the source of the virus, with elements of I Am Legend. There are also influences of classic zombie films, like Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, especially in the third act. Another element World War Z borrows from is Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, using the idea of the panicking children and more importantly the use of Chinese whispers about how the virus is affecting the world.
World War Z is an entertaining film, that is better then it had any right to be. Whilst hardcore horror fans, zombie fans and fans of the novel, it is best treat the film as it is, a global set blockbuster.
7.5/10