World War Z | Review
Let me start off by explaining why I set my expectations for this film so low. For one, the zombie fad is getting tiresome, much like the vampire and werewolf trend. Secondly, the film was plagued with production issues, a looming budget, and last-minute re-writes after filming had already been done. These problems for sure meant that the film would be a bust, but somehow, for some reason, the film actually works.
Brad Pitt stars as retired UN investigator Gerry Lane who’s forced out of retirement when a global pandemic breaks out, turning those infected into zombies. His job is to find Patient Zero, the source of the disease, and help find a cure. This aspect of the film is basically like ‘Contagion’.
But unlike Contagion, the filmmakers wanted this film to be an action film with zombies, so that’s what we get. There’s a lot of large-scale CGI sequences featuring these zombies and fire power. Even though in zombie films and shows the most interesting parts aren’t the zombies but rather how humans function together in such a world, the action scenes here are thrilling and effective.
There are only two real issues I have. The first is how the film switches back and forth from an investigative thriller like Contagion, but then to an action bonanza when it realizes it hasn’t had action in a while. The tone isn’t consistent (probably due to the re-writes, totaling three writers). The second is the damn open ending. I should’ve expected such an ending when I found out David Lindelof was called in to re-write the film’s third act and ending. Though I’m sure he’s a talented screenwriter, I’m not exactly a big fan of his style. He’s known for being one of the writers of Lost, which everyone knows involved a lot of suspense, mysteries, twists, and cliffhangers. And apparently that’s all the guy can write. He wrote Prometheus, which was good, but full of plot holes and an open ending. These issues were due to favoring mystery and suspense in favor of logic. The same applies to certain aspects of Star Trek Into Darkness, which he also helped on. And of course it applies to World War Z. Sighs.