World War Z 2013 8 out of 10
I intentionally skipped this movie in the theaters. The trailer just looked awful to me and highlighted the bad overly CGI'd effects.
After our recent zombie themed podcast and on the recommendation of both Andy and Russell, I decided it was time to give this movie a chance.
(to hear that Zombie podcast go here)
The Brad Pitt Factor
The movie itself was actually pretty good. I really don't know why Brad Pitt has never become a major action star. Other than Mr. and Mrs. Smith he really has stayed out of the action movie genre and it is a shame because Tom Cruise wouldn't hold a candle to him if he had his own Mission Impossible type franchise. Instead he spends too much of his time making movie like Benjamin Buttons (to each his own). Brad Pitt is what makes this movie work. I remember Hollywood was extremely nervous when this movie came out thinking it was going to be a giant bomb --due to rewrites and reshoots it was thought that it might bomb. Instead it turned into Brad Pitt's biggest box office hit so far.
The Plot
The plot was decent for a Zombie movie. The concept of the people turning immediately into zombies within 11 seconds lead to the insanely quick spread of the apocalypse and pacing and urgency of the movie itself. The movie was able to show how quickly society could fall apart in such a situation (which seems even more relevant while watching similar types of behavior happening in the streets of American over grand jury ruling). If people can so quickly become enraged over a trial regardless of the evidence to where they start recklessly burning their own town down---then a zombie outbreak would most definitely cause even worse behavior. The best scene to illustrate this was the grocery store scene with people just grabbing what they want in totally chaos. Brad Pitt kills a man to protect his family and a cop just runs past him loading up his own basket full of supplies. The end of the movie was a little weak with the discovery Brad Pitt makes to fight against the Zombies (which I will let those you haven't seen it discover for themselves).
The Action
Probably one of the best scenes in the movie was the opening car scene with Brad Pitt and his family in the middle of the city when the outbreak first kicks into gear. That sequence reminded me of a really cool scene from one of the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies where his car was trapped on a street between drug lords. The action of this scene was a great way to kick off the movie
The Effects
The Effects were still a weak spot in the movie for me. I know what they were going for --but the Zombies as CGI ants climbing the wall was a little too much. They were also scenes were the Zombies looked like a flood a salmon going up stream.
All in all it was a lot better than I original expected ---but still even with a huge budget and Brad Pitt --it wasn't as good as The Walking Dead. I truly believe no single Zombie movie will ever again have the impact of this amazing TV show that I once called the Slow and Plodding dead after just 5 episodes. I'll discuss the first half of the current season of the Walking Dead later this week.
My Movie page on Facebook is here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Super-Fantastic-Terrific-Page-of-Movies-TV-and-Entertainment/178708865473822
No comments:
Post a Comment