World War Z (2013) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When the world is going through what feels unprecedented, there is a good chance you can be part of changing the tide for the better. 


PLOT


Based on Max Brooks’ titular novel, World War Z follows former UN investigator Gerald Lane who lives with his wife Karin, and their two daughters, Rachel & Connie (Abigail Hargrove & Sterling Jerins). When traveling downtown Philadelphia, they get caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak. When contacting Thierry Umutoni, the UN Deputy Secretary-General who is an old friend, he picks them up near Newark. A young boy named Tomas/Tommy (Fabrizio Guido) joins them after losing his parents to the outbreak when they refused to leave their apartment. Tommy and the Lanes settle into a US navy vessel stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. In the same vessel, virologist Andrew Fassbach shares his theory with other scientists that the plague is virus based and the origin of it must be found in order to make a vaccine. Gerry only agrees to go with Fassbach with the threat his family would be evicted from the vessel by the captain (David Andrews). It quickly goes wrong when landing at Camp Humphreys where the first zombie report was received, because Fassbach accidentally shoots himself when panicking over a nearby pack. Now having to figure out the answers on his own, Gerry meets an ex-CIA officer imprisoned for aiding North Korea in the fight against zombies. Specifically, he directs him to Israel where the Mossad has established a secure area. He is able to reach Jerusalem with after evading another herd. He then meets Jurgen Warmbrunn who explains he set up defenses once he got an intercepted communication from Indian troops fighting off zombies. Gerry intends to head back to his family when the zombies breach a giant wall meant to be shelter, but as he retreats, he notices the herd ignore an elderly man and a malnourished boy. When his escort named Segen gets bit in the hand, he acts fast by chopping it off and bandaging it before they board an airplane as the result of his C-130 pilot having to leave before the herd reached him. Having seen what he’s seen, Gerry calls Thierry to redirect the pilot to a World Health Organization facility in Cardiff. The trip doesn’t go smooth due to a stowaway zombie causing an outbreak in the plane. Gerry makes the plane crash by detonating a grenade, in which only he and Segen survive. They reach the WHO facility and get their injuries tended to by the remaining staff in the building. After recovering, Gerry deduces with them that zombies ignore those already sick as if they’re invisible. The suggestion comes down to using curable pathogens for the sake of having camouflage against them. He goes with Segen and a head doctor in an attempt to sneak through the lab, but he ends up going in alone when another pack causes him to separate from the others. Having reached all the needed samples, he gets blocked by a lone zombie. With no choice, he tests the theory on himself with an injection and it ends up working when the zombie ignores him. By the time he makes it through his last zombie pack and secures the pathogens, he and Segen reunite with Tommy and the Lanes at a secure area in Freeport. The film ends with a vaccine made for everyone to defend themselves against the remaining zombies and evacuate safely. 


THOUGHTS


With a fancy name like World War Z, you know you gotta back it up and then some, which I think Director Marc Forster sure did in this sci fi epic. From the get go, you know that a horde of zombies is gonna be a believable threat when there’s a dab of visual effects mixed with all the makeup done for lone zombies and it works very well in my eyes as with each second that passed, every jump scare got me off guard. It’s not every day you would zombies topple over each other just to feast and that is exactly what happened. I then got paranoid of planes over seeing that stowaway. And you know it feels grand when you mention the US President quickly died when the outbreak started. This one even plays with the possibility where exposure to infected blood is surprisingly not a problem like getting bit. The cinematography was even quite impressive for putting an emphasis on how bad an outbreak affects communities in a global standpoint, whereas past stories would keep it isolated in one state or one country. Due to also watching The Walking Dead around the same time this movie came out, where we see the stereotyped slow breed, I’m still able to pick up on something that enough people aren’t really noticing. Apart from this third person narrative being different from the collage of interviews that were explored through the original novel, I am able to see exactly how fragile society can be when the going gets tough and we need to still communicate with one another in order to find the right path of adaptability. The proof is in the pudding when seeing David Morse play the unnamed ex-CIA agent get imprisoned for helping another country. The guy was depicted as a wild card for helping people he wasn’t working for, but had actual common sense in the long run because removing his teeth (as shown in unrated cut) to prevent turning others should he get infected is pretty damn smart. Then you got Ludi Boeken who portrays Warmbrunn as the most insightful guy to finish his wall in time before an ideal disaster. It is through Brad Pitt’s lead performance however where the message gets across because his role as Gerry shows him to be a resourceful and determined guy in his line of work. He gave it up being a UN investigator because he knew the toll it was taking to be away from his family. He had to go back and figure out the root of all problems because the resources were lacking in the blink of an eye, making him a last resort. And although Elyes Gladel had his own dedication as Fassbach before dying too soon, his accidental death only made Gerry all the more motivated to set things right. Mirellie Enos also made an ideal partner as Karin who loved her husband for his selflessness, but visibly doesn’t bare being apart from him because she can’t stand how he could die alone in the middle of nowhere. She does stand by his need to go back to work because it’s obvious he would’ve not been called back if there was no other choice. I also thought Fana Molina made a solid friend as Thierry because he pragmatically chose his only friend good enough for the absolute and in return, he did in best in protecting his family and helping him from afar. On the other hand, I also dug Daniella Kertesz as Segen because despite losing a hand, she remained fearless enough to keep Gerry alive as he did for her. Looking back, it was the boldest thing for him to expose himself to pathogen hoping to gain camouflage. There was no guarantee it would work and yet he did it because that is how determined he had to be for the greater good. It was a given for hm to take a chance like that since he was willing to jump off a roof having been exposed to the blood. It was of course worth going for because nobody would have known if he didn’t try. And with that in mind, the world would soon be saved. This movie is generally fine, but there were still a handful of things that bothered me after all the times I’ve rewatched it. Like the truck that rams the cop in the opening comes out of literal nowhere. I know we need to be caught off guard on how fast the outbreak happens, but not having it in the background before the crash ruins the suspense. I won’t be mad at Karin wanting to call Gerry to check on him, not knowing he was trying to sneak away from zombies, so it’s really on him not having it turnt off after being told they’re attracted to noise. It’s also on Warmbrunn to not know about that after already setting up the wall. If he has choppers flying over the area, he should’ve had people of his own figuring out strengths & weaknesses long before Gerry got there. These acts of incompetence confuse me more than how the plane got a stowaway zombie to begin with. And lastly, why didn’t the WHO doctors call the phone before Gerry woke up? If they’re so concerned, they should’ve looked into who he was long before he could answer any of their questions. Now that’s just dumber than not giving him the code to the pathogens beforehand. Ignore that, then you’ll still have a good time. In short, World War Z is a bombastic yet grounded zombie flick for saying a lot more than what met the eye. If you like zombies, check this out.