Movie of the Week (10/13/13-10/19/13): I posted this review earlier this summer when I saw this film in theaters. But, since The Walking Dead returns tonight I figured this would be good, also this was just released on Blu-ray a couple weeks ago with an Unrated Cut, which is much better. By this time I'm sure a lot of you have already feasted your eyes on this film about "Zombies." Yes, we have another movie about "Zombies." You might be wondering why I used quotation marks around the word "Zombie." Well, that is because in the film they are never really termed "Zombies," although the word is used, and are more likely infected with some kind of disease that doesn't technically kill them. So, now that we have cleared that up early on let's take a look at this Brad Pitt picture that was among the list of most anticipated movies of the year, World War Z.
If you have seen any trailer for this film then you know how it opens, Brad Pitt's character, Gerry Lane and his family have breakfast and are getting ready to go on vacation. Next, they are stuck in a traffic jam where, you guessed it, the city and the world are all of a sudden attacked by people who have somehow attracted a disease that make them attack humans. In the Unrated Cut there are plenty of extra scenes in this sequence that make it much more fun to watch, of course if they were in the theatrical cut the film would have been rated R. These "Zombies" are not the slow moving kind you see in The Walking Dead, no, they are the kind that move fast and can climb on top of each other very fast in order to get somewhere. Which makes the movie that much more thrilling.
This was a good movie, not great, but good and let me tell you why. First thing I thought needed to be fixed was the opening, although I liked how it was done, only told from the family's point of view, it was too short! Once the attack sequence begins there is not much destruction, a lot of aerial views of it , but not much up close and personal views that would have made the film more shocking to watch, of course it is PG-13. That being said the Unrated Cut is a little longer, as I said above, and has more detail to it, but it could still have been longer. The other thing that I was a little disappointed in was the ending, the climax was good, although not quite what I thought it would be, it was a little slow, but still very intense because Gerry is trying to get something in a lab full of these creatures. But, the end was a little of a let down because we don't get much of an explanation about what has happened, although we get some, but not enough for me. Of course it sets it up perfectly for the sequel, which is already in the works.
Now, that was what bothered me about it, although it didn't bother me very much because the sequel will answer more questions, here is what I loved about the movie. The first thing was Brad Pitt's performance. Simply put, he was great in it! It might not be his best, but it is definitely up there, I mean it has to compete with Seven, Moneyball, Inglourious Basterds. But nevertheless, he was great in it, I loved what he did with his character, the way he interacted with his wife and daughters and how he turned back into the old Gerry Lane when he needed to go out facing the "Zombies." He was almost two different characters and a I loved it.
The other thing I loved about the movie was the visual effects, which were great as well, from seeing the destruction of cities, to the "Zombies" running fast in the aerial views, to a walled in safe zone being overrun, and an airplane being attacked. Thanks to the visual effects, and editing, they made the movie more exciting and thrilling to watch. There were several scenes that were very nerve racking and I loved it, that is what a movie is suppose to do to you. My favorite scenes were the safe zone being overrun and the airplane scene, which were both just nerve-racking. Brad Pitt was also great in those scenes. The climax was pretty intense too, especially by the end because you were hoping what Gerry did worked.
World War Z is not a great movie, but it will certainly make you hold on to you armrest for dear life in certain scenes, which is why it is a good movie. We get another great performance from Brad Pitt and the visuals are great, along with the editing. Marc Forster gave us a great thriller to keep us on the edge of our seat at times. The ending may be a let down for some people because it doesn't explain very much and they (Spoiler alert!) don't find a cure for the disease, but find another way to survive for now, which sets up the sequel perfectly. And I'm excited for that! I don't know if it does the book justice because I haven't read it, I simply watched it as a movie, but I hear that some fans of the book might not like it. I couldn't tell you! But, if you want to see a good thriller with great acting, visuals, and intense scenes, go see this movie! And again, the Unrated Cut has about ten minutes of extra footage which essentially turns it into an R rated movie, but it is worth every second.
3/4 Stars
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