WORLD WAR Z; Carlisle's Final Word.

"Every person we save is one less zombie to fight."

Jurgen Warmbrunn

Visits only safe city in the world. City is over-run. Jinx.

Script Logic; 1/2

Pace; 1/2

Acting; 1/2

Aesthetic; 1/2

Originality & Intention; 1/2

Final Score; 5/10

A zombie film for people who don't like zombie movies, or, if you prefer; a zombie film without any bite. In fact, ignore that- save for the fact that it features zombies, this is not strictly a zombie film... To my mind at least, zombie films are about so much more than their antagonist; they should be claustrophobic, socially relevant, and suspenseful, but even more importantly, they are about characters (their conflicts, their hopes, their drive to survive). A typical zombie film usually follows a small cast who are given the space and time to develop before the inevitable blood shed. So I put it to you that World War Z in in reality an action film; this is Brad Pit's film and the story is interested in his character alone, as he defies the rising odds with little to assist him other than hundreds of expendable soldiers and a few minor characters who never develop past their one-line stereotypes.

World War Z has little to offer the real horror or zombie movie enthusiast. It's the Woman In Black to The Shinning, the Hunger Games to Battle Royal; it's slick, fast paced (too fast I'd argue), and designed to offer spectacle rather than any lasting chills. It's only real innovation is the 'zombie horde' effect, which I always found too CGI-rubbery to be convincing. No real acting, no need for it. Pretty but very, very fake- no rawness, no dirt, no blood.

WWZ is at least unique in the role of its protagonist, a former United Nations investigator, who by the end of the film's first act is evacuated from an over-run city because "he's the only man who can save us now" (although why him and nobody else is never explicitly explained). Usually those types ('government agents') are the mustache -twirling villains in films like this, so Brad Pitt's role here as the hero is at least novel but ultimately unrewarding, as at every turn Pitt's character is saved by a never ending tide of disposable 'meat'. He never really has to 'survive' in the traditional way of zombie movies. What could have been a savage critic of governmental failure and callousness has been dropped in favor of a more generic 'America saves the day' type plot. Honestly, the world-view and politics of the film is so simplistic, and the action so over-the-top, it's like a zombie-mod for the Modern Warfare games. Even the font they use to set each scene is exactly the same.

And finally, and possibly the most troubling aspect of the film, what's with that fucking scarf? "I know" thinks Brad, with a flick of his salon-fresh hair, "I'll protect my arms from zombie bites by wrapping them in rolled-up magazines... Now I'll put on a long pretty scarf that can easily snag or be grabbed at..." Give that man a medal.