World War Z

 I think I may have finally reached my threshold when it comes to zombies. Whether it’s through all of the recent movies they’ve released, television shows aired, or all of the Halloween costumes that even girls are rocking these days; we have had them shoved down our throat for the past decade or so. Don’t get me wrong, I love zombies, but what happened to our infatuation with angry little people? Bring back the days of Chucky or The Gremlins or even Troll! While we’re at it, why not throw midgets into the mix?  I would definitely go see a movie called Killer Midgets Do Work! But as it stands, Brad Pitt thought it was a great idea to give us yet another entry into the world of zombies with his latest release, World War Z. Now to his credit he at least chose a cool book for his inspiration however when they adapted it to the screen it took multiple rewrites and reshoots to get it done. And if you have ever closely followed the movie making process, this is usually a sign of disaster. But it looks like when the producers (Pitt) decided to bring in the resident Hollywood script saver in Damon Lindelof to save this mess, they may have hit a home run.

First things first, while I give Angelina Jolie credit for being brave and having her mastectomy, I truly believe that she's the one who forces Pitt to only have ugly wives for his co stars. Sure he had Jessica Chastain as his wife in Tree of Life but she was forced to wear old woman make up for half of that movie. And in Z, his wife is played by Mireille Enos who looks like an orangutan whose nickname is Skeletor. I can see her being a bit cautious since she herself stole Pitt from Aniston but man; making him cuddle up next to Enos for 2 months while filming is just cruel!

This movie wastes no time in getting started with the action. In similar fashion to 28 Days Later you see video clips of how we are destroying the world with our hate, ignorance, and negligence while Muse’s 2^nd Law plays over the footage. I hate Muse’s new album but this song seems like the perfect fit for a movie about the apocalypse. And maybe that's because it's signaling the end of their career as well.  Oh well, the movie starts with what seems like a normal morning of breakfast with the kids, however while on the way to school all hell breaks loose in a traffic jam in Philadelphia. You see everyone freaking out and then all of a sudden you see random angry people jumping on top of one another. It doesn’t take you long to realize that they aren’t people anymore but  they are in fact zombies. Pitt and his family are somehow able to escape and he immediately gets a phone call from his friend in the U.N. who is asking for his help. Pitt apparently did special recon missions with Navy Seals teams back in the day and the U.N. needs his help in trying to find the origin of this breakout in hopes to find a cure for it.

The major obstacle this movie had to overcome was its PG-13 rating. With this soft rating comes a lack of blood, gore and nudity. Now I know nudity isn’t usually featured in zombie movies but maybe one day we can change this. It’s for the best people, trust me it’s for the best! But what this movie lacks in blood and gore, it makes up with suspense. Just like in 28 Days Later, these zombies are fast and aggressive. But unlike 28 Days, these zombies are athletic and can jump like Olympic medalists. They also seemingly work together in order to get to those tasty human brains. So you can’t sit there just expecting the uninfected to out run them or even outsmart them. The zombies always find a way to break through. I also liked that this wasn’t just a simple survival story; instead it played out more like an investigation with Pitt trying to figure what happened and why certain areas are apparently handling it better than others. Of course as he goes from devastated region to devastated region, he must avoid the undead that are trying to feed on his beautiful face.

The director Marc Foster does an excellent job of using dark settings to add to the creepiness of the film as well as playing to the strengths of the zombies; which includes their sensitivity to sound. He also uses his experience in action movies to make quite a few memorable scenes by the way of an airline jet and the zombie attack in Israel. The fact that he’s German I’m sure played no role in this.

While I wish this movie was R for the reasons listed earlier, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and found myself literally on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the film. I rate this movie as a fairly solid FRESH and suggest that you check it out.