A sure to be classic

Rating: Null/10 (2 July 2013)

*spoilers ahead!*
An extremely impressive entry in the zombie genre and for me easily the best such since 1977's Dawn of the Dead. WWZ may break one of the supposed rules of the genre in its almost complete absence of gore but Brad Pitt's film more than compensates with an efficiently plotted linear storyline that remarkably shows no obvious signs of its troubled production, a spectacular sense of scale, a satisfactory balance between action and emotion rare in summer blockbusters and an often intense breakneck pace.
There's a lot that I liked about WWZ, from the way the film utilises its fast moving zombies as a symbol of the often frightening speed and density of everyday life, to supporting characters who are introduced only to be killed off without any of the bombast you'd have had to endure had the movie been directed by a Zack Snyder or Michael Bay. The emotional heart of the story - UN hotshot Gerry Lane's (Brad Pitt) relationship with his wife and kids - feels refreshingly damped down rather than overblown, believable without being schmaltzy. Rich and famous he may be but there's an interesting grounded quality to Pitt. Casting him as an Everyman sort of character doesn't seem like the kind of stretch it would if you had the likes of DiCaprio or Tom Cruise starring.
The story is a ground-breaking amalgamation of zombie horror and one of those plague stories in which the hero is charged with finding a cure. The plot, which sends Gerry from Philly to South Korea, to Israel and then Wales in pursuit of the infection's source, never feels like it's just marking time. Each location holds a clue and by the time Gerry figures out the ingenious solution en route to the film's climax the story tops even that by forcing our hero to make a virtual life or death decision. The payoff includes what might be the most well earned and enjoyable on screen drink since Ice Cold In Alex.
The action sequences are sensational with the (rightly) much talked about Israeli siege a standout. The chaos which leads to a hectic chase through narrow streets covered by a wire fence over which swarm countless zombies leads to an even more claustrophobic showdown inside a jumbo jet. The film is genuinely unnerving, often tense - especially the final third - and sometimes jump out of your seat scary. All without any bad language or explicit gore. There's a lesson there.
Littered with unexpected touches - the viewer's shock at a would be suicide jump by a certain character who fears he's been infected and can't bear to see his family in danger, a female Israeli IDF soldier who becomes an unexpected ally of Gerry's and who isn't saddled with a lame romantic sub-plot between her and the star, a nuclear blast viewed from the cockpit of a plane in which no words, no explanation are offered and don't need to be (at this point in the movie it truly looks like game over for mankind) and perhaps best of all a last act that eschews the empty spectacle of so many summer blockbusters and goes instead for a tense, low-key and genuinely intimate climax that I'm happy to acknowledge had me on the edge of my seat.
But perhaps best of all is the film's underlying message, epitomised by an Israeli who tells Pitt's character that 'For every life we save, it's one less enemy we have to fight.' This is a movie about the end of the world that unlike so many other zombie films shows people refusing to retreat into small survivalist groups but instead doing their best to save as many lives as they can. It does not surprise me in the least that World War Z has defied months of hostile online sniping to become a big box office hit and I'm very happy it has. Highly recommended.