Review: World War Z is,
while predictable, an entertaining thriller with a message of hope. The film is
about the chaos humanity faces when the Zombie Apocalypse overruns the Earth.
U.N. investigator Gerry Lane is sent on desperate fact-finding mission to
locate patient zero. The hope is: if Lane can find where this all began, maybe
he can also uncover a cure or way to combat the infection.
Director
Marc Forster
combines two kinds of films with World War Z. First, the film feels like a
horror thriller, as legions of the undead run rampant in the streets (and
behind every corner and down every dark ally). While it is not overly scary,
Forster does a great job managing suspense. Like most of these kinds of films,
the audience more or less already knows what is going to ultimately happen, but
suspense is still key in keeping them invested in the drama by maintaining some
level of gripping excitement. Here, Forster keeps the thrills coming, while
also avoiding the cheapness of impact cuts. He employs a much more effective
and classic style of suspense (playing on the fears of the audience – like darkness,
isolation, and fear itself).
Second,
the film feels like an international spy or adventure drama – like a James Bond or Indiana
Jones film – as Lane hops across the globe following his leads. This
international flare brings a great scope to what is more of an intimate story.
Basically, the narrative follows Lane only (and the drama of him both wanting
to find a cure and get back to his family) with all the other characters being
people he meets along the way. Most zombie films also revolve around one
character or a small group and their attempt at survival. By including an
international scope to the narrative, World War Z feels more epic and sets
itself apart from those other films as something different (which is nice).
However,
the film working both as a thriller and an action adventure film is contingent
on the audience caring about the characters – specifically Lane (as really he
is the only protagonist). Forster does a great job here too. The first act is
almost entirely dedicated to creating character moments for Lane as he protects
his family from the onset of the Zombie Apocalypse before being rescued by the
U.N. and set forth on his mission to find a cure. This character work early
pulls the audience in, giving them a stake both in Lane personally (which is
paramount in the film working as something more than spectacle) and in the
survival narrative. It also allows Forster to focus on the story for the
remainder of the film.
This
summer has been filled with massive action films filled with grander action set
pieces than audiences have maybe ever seen before – and also more mindless
destruction (with many of the films featuring larger portions of cities being
destroyed with hundreds of thousands of faceless casualties – and Pacific Rim has not
even come out yet). World War Z also has a huge amount of destruction and death
(as humanity is practically on the brink of extinction – like any other
apocalypse film), but it feels different. The film carries a message of
solidarity and hope – something that our world seemingly needs more of, as at
times humanity feels overly fragmented and hostile. It is refreshing to see an
action film that while filled with big entertaining action approaches it from a
grave perspective instead of gleeful joy and disregard for human life.
World
War Z has a strong lead character that the audience cares about, compelling
action and drama, and an easy to follow narrative, but it has a few issues as
well that hold it back from being something great. Chiefly, the third act feels
somewhat tacked on. Forster abandons the international dazzle retreating back
into the zombie genre troupe of a small group of people isolated, trapped, and
needing to come face-to-face with zombies to achieve potential survival.
Essentially, the film just becomes like almost every other zombie movie – and
thus extremely predictable, which extinguishes some of the great tension that
Forster had cultivated throughout most of the narrative. But, by the same
token, this is at its core a small, personal story (in terms of it following
one protagonist and his journey) masquerading as a grand international
adventure thriller, and thus it seems fitting that in the end the narrative
would minimize its scope down to a small secluded group – to makes things feel
more intimate.
The
bigger problem lies in the narrative feeling incomplete, like it is merely the
first chapter to something bigger – and yet, there is no indication that there
is anymore to this story. The end is the end. The tacked on ending is somewhat abrupt
and feels too easy, although this allows Forster to keep the film at a brisk
sub-two hour runtime (while many blockbusters are bloated and overindulgent).
All
in all, World War Z is one of the better summer movies to be released this
year. It grips its viewer from the opening and holds their attention throughout
with a strong lead in Lane and big zombie action moments. It just does not
aspire to be anything greater than an entertaining zombie thriller (succumbing
to genre troupes and clichés in the end – but there is nothing wrong with
that).
Technical, aesthetic and acting achievements: Marc
Forster has had an up and down career. He has made some good dramas (Finding Neverland and The Kite Runner), a good comedy
(Stranger Than Fiction), but
his previous thrillers have not worked (though, I would argue that as a direct
companion piece to Casino
Royale, Quantum of Solace
is solid, and probably provided a lot of useful experience going into this film).
World War Z is by far his best action thriller, and maybe his best film to date
(still, however, he has never been able to make something great despite his noticeable
talent).
Marco Beltrami’s score does a
fine job reinforcing the horror/thriller aspects of the tone while giving the
action sequences an extra oomph. Ben
Seresin’s cinematography is very good as well. Forster’s camera is often
frantic matching the disarray that would come from zombies suddenly consuming
the Earth’s populace. The look of the film is very desolate with mostly dimly
lit interiors. Nigel Phelps’s
production design also gives this feeling. Many of the scenes take place in
claustrophobic confined spaces. However, despite the supernatural aspect of the
narrative (i.e. the zombies), Phelps’s design along with the
documentary-feeling camera grounds the film in reality, which helps amplify the
suspense and tension.
World
War Z does not really offer much to it cast as all the characters appear in
small bit roles, save for Lane and two other characters. Plus, the film is much
more plot driven than character driven. In these small roles Peter Capaldi, David Morse, and James Badge Dale (especially)
are good. Daniella Kertesz is
strong as an Israel soldier who accompanies Lane on his mission (it could serve
as a mini-breakthrough for her). Mireille
Enos is also very good in support as Lane’s wife. She gives a lot of weight
to the early character moments. Brad
Pitt (as usual) is great as Lane. He is believable in the role and brings a
great emotional resonance to the character (the audience really gets behind and
cares about him), which enables everything to play bigger.
Summary & score: For a summer film, World War Z
is very good. For a zombie film, it is also very good, but not among the
genre’s elite. 7/10
