World War Z - Snapshot

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)