A great action movie, but far from perfect...

Rating: 6/10 (13 July 2013)

Well, as much as "World War Z" was hyped up and as it was the summer's big zombie movie, and me being the zombie aficionado that I am, of course I had to go watch it.
The movie, however, left me somewhat ambivalent. There were aspects and parts of the movie that were really great and nice, while other aspects and parts of the movie were quite the opposite.
First, let me start off with the things that I didn't particularly cared much for. The biggest issue for me was, of course, the running zombies. I never have cared much for agile and running zombies, nor will I ever get to do so. Sure, I can understand it in this movie as the infected was recently turned. But that leads me to the second issue in the movie which I didn't appreciate or understand. If everything here happened in the course of 2-3 days and the zombies were "fresh" (read, recently turned), then how come they all looked emancipated and like they had been decaying and decomposing for about 2-3 weeks? It just didn't make any sense.
Also the massive pile ups of zombies as they stacked up to scale the walls in Israel of the sides of towering apartment buildings, that didn't really go well with me. Sure it looked cool and it was a new concept idea to bring to the genre. But come on, it was just too much.
Without giving away anything of the ending of the movie, then it was really, really anti-climatic. It was like the movie producers realized that they were over the estimated time-slot and budget and had to wrap it up quickly. The ending was abrupt and too much of a happy Hollywood ending.
So what was good about the movie? Well, there was an overload of action, right from the very first minutes and up to the very end. There is a lot of adrenaline and speed to the movie. And it worked out well with the panoramic views of the various cities, when you saw all the infected running around in massive hordes. It was on an epic scale actually. I loved those scenes (eventhough I can't stand running zombies). They looked awesome and there was just something dark about them and a sense of looming doom.
The scenes in Philadelphia and Israel were fantastic, they really made good use of the locations and the cinematography here. Great shots and a good sense of panic here in the scenes. However, when the movie went to Korea it was a bit anti-climatic. The military airport in Korea came off as something from a distant era. It was all dark and in small, enclosed areas most of the time. You didn't really have the sense of this was a military area in one bit. And when the movie took us to the viral facility in Ireland, well that was just great. Sure, it was in sterile rooms and long corridors lit up by florescent lights, but it worked so well.
As much as I don't really consider myself a fan of Brad Pitt, then he actually did a good job in this movie. However, there weren't really any over-the-top performances in "World War Z" from anyone. People did good jobs with their given roles, but no one in particular stood out. The characters they portrayed, however, tended to come off a one-dimensional and you never really got to the heart and core of any of the characters. As such, they were very impersonal and could just as well just had been hollow caricatures.
I am giving "World War Z" a 6 out of 10 rating, because it is a good action movie full of adrenaline, but there were gaps and holes in the storyline and continuity here and there. And also the running zombies didn't help to impress me. There are many beautiful scenes and really well-constructed scenes throughout the movie which makes the movie well worth watching. "World War Z" appeals to a wide audience, but in its attempt to get out to as many as possible, it fails to cater to the hardcore fans of the zombie genre.
I should get around to reading the book, as I have been told that the movie deviates and strays far from the actual book upon which it is based.