World War Z Movie Review

By: Lynn Barker

Wow, zombies are taking over world-wide! But hey, zombies move slowly so we can usually get them before they get us, right? Uh, not this time around as Brad Pitt and his movie family learn as they try to keep ahead of the lightning-fast swarm.

The Swarm

While driving in downtown Philadelphia with his wife and two daughters, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), an early-retired trouble-shooter for the United Nations, tries to protect his family when there is a huge explosion and, suddenly, some very fast-moving folks that aren’t quite “right” attack the others!  Gerry’s young daughter, an asthmatic, is without her inhaler and can’t breathe. Finally, we see that the fast-running people are zombies. Gerry counts down as one guy is bitten and turns into one less than a minute later!

Gerry (Brad Pitt) guides his family to safety

Escape

Gerry and family escape to New Jersey in an RV. He phones his old UN buddy who says this zombie thing is world-wide and he will send a helicopter to pick the family up asap. After fighting other terrified humans stealing food and medicine from a local store, the family hides with a Latino family in an apartment building but safety is short-lived as zombies break in. The Lanes plus only one surviving Latino boy make it to the roof and just barely manage to board a helicopter in front of a zombie hoard.

Gerry (Brad Pitt) leads his family out of apartment building

Back to Work

Gerry’s old boss Thierry offers safety for the family if Gerry will go back to work and help a virologist trace the source of the zombie plague; “patient zero”, the first person to be infected in the hope of finding a cure. He has no choice. The family remains in safety aboard a huge aircraft carrier while Gerry is tracing clues first to Korea, where the young virologist is killed right away and Gerry learns more about fighting zombies from the local surviving soldiers.

Gerry (Brad) and family aboard the aircraft carrier

Moving On

Tracing a clue to Israel, which was more prepared and has a huge wall around Jerusalem keeping zombies out, Gerry learns more but loud music attracts the zombies and, with people inside the walls singing, the zombie swarm climbs over the walls and all is lost. Gerry rescues young female soldier Segen (Daniella Kertesz) who is bitten, by cutting off her infected hand before she “turns”.

Gerry (Brad Pitt) and Israeli soldier Seren escape Jerusalem

Surviving

After living through a plane crash caused by the bite of one zombie stowaway, Gerry and Segen make it to a research lab where he can put a hunch into practice. The zombies seem to pass by anyone who is sick, like they just don’t see the person. If we can inject humans with a non-deadly but serious virus, they will be safe long enough to fight or plan against the zombies before given the antidote to the virus. Gerry, Segen and remaining scientists at the lab must move through zombie-infested research facilities to gain access to the needed viruses. Can Gerry’s plan work? Will his family, now evacuated to a refugee camp, stay safe?

Gerry (Brad Pitt) discusses Zombie fighting with officials

Wrapping Up

Since I have not read the graphic novels on which the film is based, I won’t compare. As a stand-alone film, World War Z is a visual eye-popper on a huge scale as massive groups of uber-fast-moving zombies swarm over the land like ants. They move and bite so fast that we don’t really see any brain-munching or even gore, which makes the film okay for older kids and teens.

Zombies climb like ants!

Brad Pitt makes both a loving dad and a strong action hero as the fate of the world is placed on his reluctant shoulders. He even uses what he’s seen and common sense to figure out how to fight the zombies. I was impressed with Segen, a strong female Israeli soldier who fights alongside Brad in the last half of the film. Wanted to know more about her character however. The movie slows down and gets more like “The Walking Dead” in the final scenes as Brad sneaks slowly through a lab trying to stay hidden. After all the action, kind of a let-down.

Gerry's wife and daughter

Unlike the Tom-Cruise-starring War of the Worlds film, the hero doesn’t take his family  with him on most of the desperate adventure and that is both good (more logical) and bad (less rooting interest if they are safe). In the short time the Lane family is together, however, you really believe their bond and you might relate to one of the kids.

Some of the “solution” for fighting the zombies isn’t logical (uh, if you are super sick with a pretty serious virus, how are you going to be able to fight zombies or even make good plans against them?)  However, if you don’t think through the plot too much, you will be entertained and freaked in a fun way by this great-looking and mostly exciting movie. At the end, the film also provides a nice message of working together with love to survive. If we had half stars, we’d go 3 and ½. Since we don’t, 3 stars.

World War Z Movie Review:

The poster

World War Z is in theaters Friday, June 21^st!