Sunday 8 December 2013

World War Z DVD

When I was in hospital earlier this month I missed the cinema release of World War Z. Despite being unimpressed by the trailer it was still a film that I wanted to see. So when I got out of hospital I ordered it on DVD and decided to watch it with an open mind. I had read a lot of negative comments about it, especially by fans of the book. But as I always say, there is only ever one critic who counts and that's yourself.
THE FILM. The film is very loosely based on the novel of the same name by Max Brooks. I say very loosely because all they have in common is the title and the fact that both feature a zombie apocalypse. The big name attached to the film is, of course, Brad Pitt. He plays Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who is coerced into returning to help lead the investigation into a world wide pandemic that has infected millions of people, turning them into flesh eating zombies. Mireille Enos played his wife, Karin. For me, the most interesting character in the movie was a female Israeli soldier, known only as Segen, played by Daniella Kertesz. Doctor Who fans may be interested to know that the newest Doctor, Peter Capaldi, has a small role as a World Health Organisation scientist. How ironic that the new Doctor Who is working for WHO! The film was directed by Marc Forster and had a troubled history with rewrites and a delayed release date. Ultimately, it was a box office hit and a sequel is in the works.
THE PLOT. Warning - Spoiler alert! The film opens with Gerry and his family (wife and two daughters) in Philadelphia when the zombie apocalypse kicks off. They are stuck in traffic but manage to leave the city and head for Newark, New Jersey. Gerry's old friend, UN Deputy Secretary General Thierry Umutoni contacts him and sends a helicopter out to bring the Lanes to a US Navy vessel somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Here, scientists and military personnel try to make sense of the outbreak. Gerry is flown to a military base in South Korea, where it is believed the outbreak started. He is accompanied by Dr. Andrew Fassbach, who doesn't last long. He slips when exiting the plane and accidentally kills himself when his pistol discharges. A dumb and stupid death! Why couldn't he have been killed by zombies?
Gerry learns that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service knew a lot about the virus before it went global, so he flies to Jerusalem, where a huge wall has been erected around the city to keep out the zombie horde. He meets with Mossad chief Jurgen Warmbrunn but is forced to leave quickly when the wall is breached and the city is overrun by zombies. Gerry, accompanied by Segen, a female soldier depart on a commercial airliner, one of the last to leave the stricken city. Gerry had helped Segen by cutting off her hand when she got bitten by a zombie. This drastic measure prevented her from succumbing to the zombie disease. He persuaded the pilot to fly him to a World Health Organisation research facility in Wales. Unfortunately, a zombie had stowed away on the plane and Gerry was forced to kill it with one of Segen's hand grenades. Naturally, this caused the plane to crash but luckily, Gerry and Segen were the only survivors and even more luckily, they were close to the WHO facility. Whilst in Jerusalem, Gerry noticed that the zombies ignored a sick old man and an emaciated boy. He surmised that anyone with a terminal disease was immune to the zombies so to test his theory he injected himself with a lethal but treatable disease. It worked and the scientists were able to produce a vaccine to render humanity immune to the zombie virus.
THE VERDICT. Oh dear! Where do I begin? This has to be one of the worst zombie films I have ever seen and believe me, I've seen some bad zombie films. There are so many holes to pick in the plot, right from the start when the zombies first appear up until the ludicrous ending. For a start, the zombies are not as described in the book - slow moving and relentless. No, these zombies are all Olympic sprinters spliced with the DNA of ants so that they can climb on top of each other to scale huge walls. I hate fast running zombies and I particularly hated the zombies in this movie. They just looked so silly and stupid. To me, what was unforgivable for a zombie movie was the fact that we never got to see a drop of blood spilled throughout the film. For fuck's sake it is a zombie film! Where was the gore? How can you cut someones hand off and not show any blood? If I had to describe the film in one word I think I'd chose the word anaemic!
I get the point of Gerry flying all over the world to show that this is a global event but how he gets to his destinations does beggar belief. Can a Hercules transport plane fly from the Eastern seaboard of the USA to South Korea without refuelling? It was established very early on that zombies react to sound so why when we travel to Jerusalem are so many refugees singing at the top of their voices just inside the city walls? Also, why have so many helicopter flights around the city? They're even more noisy. No wonder the zombies outside got so agitated and scaled the walls. Although how they did that left me shaking my head in disbelief! As for zombies ignoring the terminally diseased, what a load of bollocks! Zombies will attack and feast on anyone with a heartbeat! This so-called cure was never mentioned in the book, so why spoil the film with it? This monumental oversight made the ending even more of a letdown.
Oh, and don't get me started on the flight from Israel to Wales! How did the zombie stowaway in the first place? Why was Segen allowed to carry hand grenades with her? And what was Gerry thinking when he threw a grenade at the zombie? Also, are we really expected to believe that Gerry and Segen were the only two survivors of the plane crash? Come on, get real, folks! Credit the audience with some intelligence! I loved Max Brooks' book of  World War Z but I hated this film with a passion. As a result, I can only give it a 1 out of 10 rating. Avoid at all costs. Read the book or catch it on TV when it airs but don't waste good money on it. Don't let my suffering be in vain!

43 comments:

  1. Parts that I loved from the book; the Battle of Yonkers, the Chinese Dr and " Don't worry, it'll be alright", and the blind Japanese man and his young computer hacker turned warrior.
    it would have been more interesting if Brad Pitts character encountered the ones from the book in his travels for the cure. Like The Walking Dead,I really liked the conflict and challanges of the characters as they develope.
    the beautiful young woman ,who is being reintegrated into our society, can shriek and moan like a zombie. The Afrikanier who is in an Asylum with a fractured psyche because of the guilt he suffered over helping his people survive. All good stuff and more was lost.
    My kids love it, and like Warm Bodies, it passed the can be viewed by my kids test. They think it's neat and although I think it's a rip off, I'd probably feel better if it's title wasn't World War Z.
    Exactly how I felt about Starship Troopers, but at least I can watch this Zed movie with my kids...it also amps them up to play Zombicide( by hook/crook runners get splatted first)

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    1. I watched "World War Z" with my mum and she never looked away once. It's kind of odd that she loves "The Walking Dead" TV series but she always looks away whenever there is a zombie attack. With "World War Z" she was as unfazed as I was.
      I agree with you, David, they should never have called it "World War Z".

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  2. I have purchased the DVD but as yet have not gotten around to watching it. So I missed out the plot spoiler bits of your review. I will probably get round to watching it next week. So until then. I will save my judgement. Cheers Mate.

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    1. All I can say is prepare to be disappointed, my friend!

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    2. I have just watched WWZ. While it is not the worst zombie film I have ever seen it is so far from being the best zombie film. I think the problem being that they tried to make it all things to all people as a result it was nothing to anyone. Only a couple of good ideas in the film generally it was "meh!"

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    3. Methinks you're being too kind in your review, Clint. To me it wasn't so much "meh!" as "bleurgh!"

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  3. Like Clint I stopped reading at the Spoiler Alert, but the film has had a lot of criticism form those who have read the book, but it does seem to me just another popcorn film that I'll get around to watching in time, but I'll not be rushing to do so,

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    1. I wouldn't be in any hurry to watch it, Joe.

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  4. Wow, that's a strong negative! I haven't seen this film yet and I really wanted it to be good (at least in part because they filmed some of it in my home city, Glasgow). However, this isn't the first review I've seen which says it's a total disaster :-( ...

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    1. The film makers do a good job of converting Glasgow into Philadelphia but that's just about the only thing they got right.

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  5. Don't fear I for one will not let your pain be in vain, I'll never watch it.

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  6. Anaemic, what a great adjective! Thanks for the run down, not seen it myself yet but I will over Christmas. I saw a real weird zombie movie last week, a low budget Brit one, can't remember the name but the star was 'Pervo the Clown' (set in the NE). Now I didn't mind it, it was decent for a low budget thing.

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    1. Now you've got me wondering what the heck you did watch, Bob?

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  7. I can't even muster any enthusiasm to watch it. I've had it for a while I just CBA with it yet. I have to many other things to catch up on first.

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    1. Keep on finding better things to do, Simon. You won't regret it.

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  8. I can imagine why many people hated it considering they took the unwritten rulebook to making zombie movies, looked at all the usual tropes and basically did the exact opposite! I personally didn't mind seeing something different for a change, but I agree it could have been so much better!

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    1. When you look at all of the stories in the book it is hard to imagine how and why the screenplay turned out so bad! Hollywood at its very worst!

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    1. I couldn't possibly argue with your assessment, Shinto!

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    2. I left the cinema about 25 mins in to the movie, that is some thing i have never done before.

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  10. Hi Bryan, totally agree with you. this "thing" is a shame to the book and zombies lovers. This film is so clean, i can wash my shoes with it. What is the opinion of Max Brook for this? Money makes writers blind.
    Rammbock with no money is a work of art compared to this piece of poisoned cake.
    But be happy my friends, there will be sequels. What a beautiful world.

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    1. Yes, the idea of sequels fills me with more horror than the actual film did! I love your description of the film being so clean you could wash your shoes in it! Brilliant!

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  11. Oh, how I hate to see movie creatures scaling walls. I don't care if they are zombies, mummified egyptian tomb guards or Moria goblins. Running zombies are bad enough, but jumping and climbing zeds are utter crap! Next time they'll breathe fire, regenerate and beguile pathetic high-school girls. There is no sign of brain activity in Hollywood...

    I am not so sure if I really want to see this movie anymore, but I survived Jack Reacher and Captain America and it can't get any worse than that, right? RIGHT?!?

    Whiteface / Oliver

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    1. Utter crap pretty much sums up the whole film. Compared to World War Z, Captain America was high art and Jack Reacher passable. Sorry to have tell you this, Oliver, but World War Z was MUCH WORSE than those two movies!

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  12. For all it's flaws, I LOVED Captain America... however I think I might just leave this one off until it's £2.50 in the bargain bin

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    1. I quite liked Captain America as well, Adam. I'd certainly watch it again. However, I can't say the same about World War Z.

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  13. Well...I've skipped the plot part (just in case), but I was preparing to see this one for a while now, always being put off by negative reviews. My little brother said it was really awesome, so I figured it shouldn't be too bad as long as people at least act decently and effects aren't all sad. :D

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    1. That being the case, prepare to be majorly disappointed, Mathyoo. People in the film do not act decently (Brad Pitt killing a zombie with a hand grenade on a plane in mid-flight being the worst example) and the CGI special effects look unconvincing. Avoid, my friend, avoid!

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    2. Argh! Now I have to see it, just to make sure it really is horrible! :D :D

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    3. What? Don't you believe me, Mathyoo?! Actually, to be fair, I did say that the only critic that counts is yourself but... don't blame me if you think it is a steaming pile of crap!

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  14. This movie was more a disaster movie than a zombie movies and had all the ear markings of a bad tv movie. It perfectly fit the recurring template of Syfy channels disaster movies. I can see why Brooks distanced himself from the movie. However this review has inspired me to reread the book!

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    1. Funnily enough, Roger, I also feel the need to reread the book.

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  15. I wrote you an email, hope you've got it.

    ich habe dir eine email geschrieben, hoffe du hast sie bekommen.

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    1. Sorry, but I don't think I did. Here's my e-mail address - vampifan@talktalk.net if you want to try again.

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    2. Message received. I have some good news for you. Make sure you check out my blog tomorrow and you'll find that I have listened to your request. Sorry, but your first e-mail got stuck in my spam folder. That should not have happened.

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  16. Nothing like the book, I treated it as a different movie....a few good bits but flawed and a different ending than they originally wanted!

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    1. Saying it is "nothing like the book" is a huge understatement, Fran.

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  17. I`m reaaaaally gonna shock ya now... like totally! *sticks head over parapet, thinks better of it and uses a periscope first*

    I absolutely LOVED World War Z.

    hehehe... I really did.

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    1. WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought you had more taste than that. I disown you!


      Just kidding :-)

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