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.