Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Review: World War Z (2013)

Director : Marc Foster
Production House : Paramount Pictures
Rating : 67% (Rotten Tomatoes)

I usually don’t have too much faith in zombie movies. It seems to me like they rely on nothing more than blood, flesh and scenes of people eating people. But I know good movies when I’m seeing one and this is definitely one of them, despite its zombie flick status. 


This film tells a story of and United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Just like other zombie flicks, this movie relies a lot on cuts of news report as a prologue to get the audience to the point where the director wants them to start. The opening is very fast it makes your adrenaline pumping from the get go. The plot doesn’t cover much though, or is it just me? It seems like they try so hard to create ‘a plot’ but in the end I just get confused. But who watch zombie movies for plots? What important is this movie does its job very well as an eye and ear candy that leave your heart pounding straight on until the end.

Like I said before, they don’t sell general sadism and cannibalism here; that’s not the point at all. Instead, they emphasize more on apocalypse and survival.  It really lives up its ‘War’ title; it does give tremendous heroism vibe that leaves you crying from relief and satisfaction, and a little envy that your life isn’t that cool. Especially the last scenes.

So, if you really want to watch anything with zombies, but the flesh-and-blood scenes of Dawn of the Dead makes you icky yet not that much of a pussy to settle with Warm Bodies, then this movie is for you. 

About the cast, well, they have Brad Pitt. I heard he also produces this. All in all, I think the fact that Brad Pitt in this says enough of the movie’s quality. Some of you may sick of how he keeps being portrayed as the I-can-do-nothing-wrong, squeaky-clean-good-hearted hero, but I’m not you. I think he’s awesome. That woman who plays his wife also deserves some credit,  I think. I can see her gets better-known in the future. 

Personally, I like it. The editing is good; the CGI is decent enough, not Smeagol/Aslan quality, but understandable since the zombies don’t take that big of a role here. Furthermore with waves of them coming at you, you’d hardly notice any details of their portrayals. The cinematography though, I gives nothing less than five stars. I love it, it really supports the movie. But then again I’m so easy to impress. Gives me a lot of aerial views and I’m yours. 

In spite of satisfying my needs as adrenaline junkie without getting out of the house (in the comfort of my bed, nonetheless), it leaves really strong impression in my head. It keeps reminding me of The Day After Tomorrow. I keep thinking about what kind of galactic disaster that will happen one day, that is so magnificently lethal it will leave us human with no choice other than unite. There is no race, religion, third world/first world countries; no Israeli war, Gulf war, Korean war. It wil be the war of humankind. 

I still got severe zombie-flicks cravings until weeks after.

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