World War Zzzzzzzz......Zzzzzzzz......Zzzzzz

Rating: 5/10 (8 September 2013)

I wanted so much for this film to be good. I really did. Yet I knew, deep down in my core that, having seen the "swarming" zombies, it was going to be painful. It was, but not for the reasons the trailer suggested. In fact, the swarming, ant-like behaviour of the zombies is a minor thing compared to the rest of the this terrible, terrible film.
1. Acting. I've never been convinced by Brad Pitt in any of his roles. He's the thinking man's cure for insomnia. Here, he seems to just not care enough to make an effort. He does his scenes and delivers his lines but he just flat out fails to be the "hero". I can't remember a film where the main character was so... uninteresting. He's just a nothing character and Pitt plays him without any emotion or energy whatsoever.
2. Characterization. All of the characters are laser-cut out of cardboard, complete with little foldout bits to make them stand up. Such a bland, uninteresting bunch you won't find outside of an Asylum movie. The wife is helpless and annoyingly needy. The children were clearly told to just "scream a lot". Nobody else even gets that much development. It's awful because, without any character to the characters, you don't give a damn about any of them.
3. Stupidity. There's a whole boatload in this film. Whether it's the nonsensical decision to send just a handful of soldiers with Pitt and the "expert" (tm) off on a mission even though there are assault carriers full of marines on hand, or the inane "invisibility" cloak that terminal disease conferred on the victims, this movie is dumb. Israel builds a wall around their entire country to keep the zombies out. Great! Except that they then don't bother to patrol said wall at all, allowing the stackable lego-zombies to scale the outside unimpeded. The zombies can sense ill people at a run and completely ignore them. Never mind that a sick dude could be bitten and pass on the virus just as well as a healthy person. Ah, but of course, the reason for that is...
4. Plot-Driven story. These are always the weakest movies, because they force characters and situations in order to fit the plot. So in the above example, the reason the zombies don't bite sick folk is solely so that Arm Pitt can infect himself later on in the film in order to escape death at their hands. In other words, a terribly obvious plot device.
The biggest indicator that a movie has failed to deliver, however, came when I found a minor character more interesting than the main character. In this case it was the Israeli soldier girl. Forget Pitt, she's the real star of the movie. But the fact that she outshines the main character is a clear sign that all is not well with the film.
There's also no context in which to place the movie's events. You just get dumped straight in with no explanation of where the virus came from, or why, or how Israel knew to build a wall and so on.
It's a mess, honestly, and tries to hide that fact behind action set-pieces and CGI effects with minimal success.
With a better main star and perhaps a better written screenplay, it might have been engaging. As it is, it is a bit of a snorefest. Utterly predictable storyline and blatant plot manipulation do nothing to enhance its appeal.
SUMMARY: There are many better zombie movies out there. And none of them have Brad Pitt in them.