Action-horror films are rarely something authentic. They do almost always involve zombies, which are an extremely common horror cash-grab strategy. Spin-offs of popular characters in a zombified mode are available in different media. Regardless, Max Brooks is one of the greatest writers of post-apocalyptic and zombie fiction, and World War Z is a greatly written storyline too. But just like the live-action take on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, the adaptation itself is rather disappointing in World War Z’s case.
Regardless, there happen to be a good deal of aspects that make the film enjoyable, and even though most of them would be attributed to the premise of the novel itself, the film is not badly written, and can at times tell its story rather creatively. It’s nowhere near the novel in terms of quality, but the standard is too high, and the film is at the very least slightly above par.
How to Stream or Download World War Z (film)
To stream or to download the film, click on the Download button at the end of the review and choose the digital store you like. Check out also what we think about the World War Z game from 2019.
The Movie Review
The film stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former UN agent who is caught in the middle of heavy traffic in Philadelphia with zombies everywhere alongside his wife Karin and their two daughters. After Philadelphia is overrun by zombies, the Lanes escape to Newark, New Jersey, and find refuge in an apartment with a couple that has a young son named Tommy. Things get worse when they’re no longer secure even there, with Tommy’s parents getting infected.
The Lanes escape alongside Tommy in a helicopter that brings them to a U.S. Navy vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, where various developments have been taking place regarding the zombie outbreak, including scientific analyses. A prominent virologist named Andrew Fasbach concludes that the plague would continue to spread until and unless a vaccine is made, which is dependent on finding the origin of the outbreak.
Gerry is put in a tense situation, with his family threatened to be evicted if he failed to help them in finding the source of the outbreak.
Then begins the mission involving Gerry, Fasbach, and a small SEAL escort, which starts with them traveling to South Korea, and things get worse for the three, with some qualitative losses following a zombie attack. Gerry’s journey to finding out the truth about this zombie outbreak starts to become more and more personal after every tense situation passes.
He travels to and explores any location associated with the origin of the outbreak. Never before known aspects are learned about the zombies, their nature, as well as their origin, and even though Gerry’s involvement is mostly for the sake of his family’s safety, his interest in the matter itself grows gradually, and the way it does so is fairly well-developed. There may be a lot of emphasis on the spectacle, but the way Gerry and the zombies are depicted via writing and direction is appreciable.
The adapted screenplay, which is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, and Damon Lindelof is mostly focused on the visuals themselves, but it builds up the situations and characters quite nicely for a film that tries too hard to work as a blockbuster. Marc Forster’s direction is improved in comparison to the disappointing Quantum of Solace too, he tells the story in good fashion visually or narratively. It’s rare for actors to contribute that much to a commercial film, but Brad Pitt fits Gerry Lane like a glove.
Ben Seresin’s cinematography is another enjoyable aspect of the film, it’s mostly style-over-substance, but it does have its moments of subtlety. The film is a little bit above the par in most aspects for sure.
The Bottom Line
World War Z is an enjoyable one-time-watch. It may not be as great as its source material, but it’s not something to sleep on either. It’s better to read the novel instead, but the film is definitely recommended if you seek to view an adaptation with an okay-ish characterization and eye-catching sequences. World War Z is definitely among the good kind of commercial films.
