I watched the trailer for World War Z around the time of its release, and found some of the
effects quite impressive, and the theme was certainly of interest.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch it in the theatre, and only got around to watching
it last night, almost 2 years after its 2013 release. I hear that it’s an
adaptation from a book, but since I neither read the book nor have a
perspective on it, my thoughts are solely based on the movie as a standalone.
By itself, as a zombie movie, it’s actually pretty darn good. The movie wastes
no time getting into the action, with audiences being startled and rudely drawn
into the action, shortly after the calm paced opening moments. All such
sequences throughout the movie are supported well by visual and sound elements,
to provide for a gritty and intense viewing experience; consistently
maintaining the suspense levels. The movie sustains a pretty engaging pace,
from one goal to the next. Though the blood and gore are comparatively lesser than
usual zombie movies, World War Z has
its share of carnage. Unlike some of its bloodier mainstream slasher movie
counterparts, it feels like a Roland Emmerich blockbuster, with a global crisis
to humanity sorta perspective; think 2012
meets Resident Evil. Some of the
special effect were indeed amazing, especially the rapid insect like behavior
of the zombies in the sequences in Israel. Gerry Lane played by Brad Pitt is
the UN agent and the central character the audiences follow through the plot.
While his uncanny ability to survive every one of the life threatening
situations is hard to believe, assume that he has nine lives like a cat, and as
long as you watch it as entertainment, you’ll have fun. From a performance
perspective though, he does very well, proving that he is a pretty solid actor,
with a good deal of range. Also worth mention was Mireille Enos, who plays the
lead character’s wife, Karin Lane. If you usually find disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow entertaining,
combining elements of a global disaster, and a family’s survival struggle to
follow, you’ll enjoy World War Z.
Technically, the presentation was excellent, video looking very nice, with some
phenomenal sweeping shots that would look amazing on a big screen. Special
effects were impressive, and sound effects complemented it all superbly.
My Recommendation: Kick
Ass (A zombie epidemic with a human drama setting)
