World War Z (15A)

It has been reported that Brad Pitt is hopeful of there being many sequels to this movie.

The storyline of ‘World War Z’ is based on the novel by Max Brooks and Pitt plays a UN expert, Gerry Lane, who following a world disaster, is brought out of early retirement, to race against the clock to stop a Zombie world domination, which threatens to destroy the human population.  However, all that being said, it’s not a bad movie, despite it sounding like a bad 1950s B movie.

The action is non-stop, and begins on an American city street with buildings exploding, and a rampant spread of ‘Zombisim’ among the general population.  The zombies act like they have done in every movie from ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to ‘The Dawn of the Dead’, so there is nothing new here.  However terror is continued on throughout every scene as Gerry crosses the world to South Korea, Israel, Wales and Canada hoping to find a way to stop the zombies.

Along the way he is helped by a former UN employee, played in a cameo by David Morse, a brilliant character actor, who has a long acting  history going back to tv’s ‘St. Elsewhere’ in the 1980s.  Unfortunately this actor is very underused in the movie. 

Brad Pitt does his best with the movie, and is also credited with being one of the producers as well as being the main star.  His wife, Karin is played in a lovely subdued way by Mirelle Enos, and she shows well the terror of being separated from her husband, with her children, on a ship off the coast of America.  However her safety is put in jeopardy not just by the zombies, but by the ones who is supposed to be protecting her and her family.

It’s an ok thriller, and Brad Pitt does a good job of playing the family man trying to save the world.  The ending of the movie, at first seems like a cop-out, but Brad’s statement this week that he is hopeful of some sequels makes sense now.

‘World War Z’ is an enjoyable film, and gripping in places, but it has its lulls as well.  However there were many worse films made about zombies.

Man of Steel (12A)

The reboot of the Superman story, ‘Man of Steel’ takes the whole Clark Kent saga that cinema audiences have known since the 1940s, and turned it upside down, and back again.  The story is basically the same, although it is told in different time stages.

Henry Carvill is probably the best actor to have played Superman, certainly the best since the late Christopher Reeve left the role after shooting four movies in 1987.  Here, Clark Kent is portrayed in the main as a tortured soul who can’t understand or control his superhuman powers.

His spiritual foster father is played by Kevin Costner, and his understanding mother is played by Diane Lane.  This Superman story has biblical similarities, with Clark being 33 years old before major happenings in his life and in the world come about, just like Jesus Christ.

The movie is available in 3D, but I’d say it wouldn’t be a big deal to just see it in the 2D version.  A lot of action is thrown in here, but more than in past versions, the story of Superman is paramount.

The influence of Batman producer, Christopher Nolan in the production of ‘Man of Steel’ is evident, with the darkness on the theme of the story in the script. 

Lois Lane is played by prolific actress, Amy Adams, and throughout the movie the whole father/son bond and controlling evil and anger is used to great effect. 

The new Superman movie is all about action, special effects, and the familiar story, with a modern storyline influenced by the plot of the first two Christopher Reeve movies from 1978 and 1980 thrown in.  It uses biblical events in a modern fashion, and the internet and social media also have their place here.

There is just a hint of the Superman name coming into the movie, but it is stopped in its tracks before Amy Adams’ Lois Lane attempts to say the name.

Henry Carvill portrays a dark and problematic Superman, but he could have been given a better storyline to work with, although he did his best with the script on hand.

Kevin Costner as his foster father, Jonathan Kent, brought his best to the role of the earthly spiritual advisor, as did Russell Crowe, who had a much bigger part as the birth father.  Both actors are improving with age, although Costner had the edge. 

‘Man of Steel’ is a worthy successor to the successful series of movies of Superman, and is the best one since 1980, but not as good as Christopher Nolan’s Batman series.

After Earth (12A)

It’s hard to see what the point of this movie is and why it was really made unless it was to give a vehicle to 14 years old Jaden Smith. 

The young fellow is the real life son of his co-star, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett, who acts as producer of ‘After Earth’.  The main attraction of the science fiction movie is that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also worked on the screenplay.  Shyamalan wrote ‘Sixth Sense’ back in the 1990s.

The story of ‘After Earth’ began promisingly by detailing how one thousand years previously, people escaped from the planet earth following a serious upheaval of sorts, to live on Nova Prime.

A moody looking Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, who returns to Nova Prime from a military tour of duty, to his son, Kitai (Jaden) and his wife, played by Sophie Okonedo, who almost a decade ago was nominated for an Oscar for her work on ‘Hotel Rwanda’.

Father and son decide to go on another tour of duty, and manage to be the remaining survivors when an asteroid storm damages their craft.  They land on a dangerous and hostile Planet Earth.  Cypher is seriously injured and the young Kitai must head across the landscape to retrieve the craft’s rescue beacon.    While the boy has some military training, he didn’t manage to make the grade at his academy.

While there are special digital effects etc., the story does take a nosedive, throughout Kitai’s search.

There was little evidence of M. Night Shyamalan’s influence or work in the movie, considering he has worked on the unexpected and the surprise in his own movies.  There are no surprises here, and a sub-plot about Kitai’s dead sister doesn’t really fit into the movie.

The movie lacked a lot, mostly an engrossing plot.  A better script could have seen justice done by Will Smith, but it’s too early to see if Jaden has any screen presence.  Although the young fellow made a few movies before ‘After Earth’, this movie wasn’t a good one for him.