Review of World War Z (2013) by Robert S — 13 Aug 2014

64%.

When you walk into a film with extremely low expectations or no expectations at all, things can turn out surprisingly good! So was the case with me and WWZ. I turned it on with the cynical mindset that it was just going to be an overrated, mindless, videogame-like addition to a somewhat dead genre (no pun intended). And even with the opening sequence it felt like it was taking itself too seriously, what with the intense music and all. (But it does set the tone for the film.) But, as more mysteries are unraveled, things actually start to look, surprisingly, pretty good!

Let's start with some of the problems I had with the film.

1) Too fast paced! The movie opens up with a dramatic mash-up of news clips giving us background about a virus (yes, typically zombie cliché; but here, it actually works). Then the movie jumps RIGHT into the conflict-not days or hours before, not even in the midst of it, but literally RIGHT before things start to go bad. The film wastes no time in getting to this point. When they're on the road headed to Newark, I looked at the timer and it was only 15 minutes in. It seemed to me that the film was not looking to embellish its characters-the relationship between the parents, and the children. Yes, I understand it's supposed to be mindless summer blockbuster entertainment meant for escaping filmgoers (though the plot is thicker than most zombie films; or any film that came out this summer for that matter), but some connection to the characters and some characterization and foreshadowing drama would be nice to see. But once we sit down with them for a few minutes, our characters develop more and we're now on the same page. Hopefully an extended edition is released or something.

2) SPOILERS. SKIP TO NUMBER THREE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM. Killing off the doctor. I was really getting to like the doctor character introduced on the ship; the smart guy who might know all the answers but also has a charming personality and some wit! I can't wait to see more of h-oh wait he shot himself. It's unfortunate that they had such an opportunity to show off this character, at least for another 45 minutes, but his demise was so lazily-written that I was disappointed in the screenwriter(s). But would it really have mattered if he was in the film more? I don't know how the book goes, and maybe this character's death was in it, but, hey, maybe we'll never know if he was worth keeping.

3) The orphan boy. AGAIN: SPOILERS! SORRY. Gerry and his family go to Newark where they take refuge in a (Spanish? Correct me if I'm wrong) couple's apartment. The couple has a young son about the same age as Gerry's older daughter. They soon leave but zombies come and infect the Spanish couple, but their son escapes, leaving him orphaned; he goes with Gerry and his family. The way they set up this relationship with him and the main character-and perhaps the older daughter-is compelling, but never built upon. Think about it: when they're on the ship and Gerry asks the boy to "look over" his daughters or something, he lightly responds "Okay" or something like that. Wouldn't he instead be sitting in a corner right now, crying his eyes out because his parents were infected and soon killed? There's this interesting setup but no payoff. Again, maybe it's all explained in some extended cut that wasn't released because moviegoers are too easily bored and want to get to the mindless videogame action.

Those were my problems with the film. Everything else is actually very passable. I was almost disappointed when he SPOILERS injects himself with the vaccine because I was thinking "Oh he sacrifices himself like in I Am Legend; what a ripoff, right?" But I missed the part where they explain that an antidote exists so that he doesn't die. Fantastic ending, limited use of CGI was a smart choice; but the budget is reportedly 190 million. WHAT!? This was too...for lack of a better word..."cheap-looking" to have cost 190 million. But all the same, I enjoyed it.