Brad Pitt and his zombies entertain in 'WW Z'
Might there be a real-life zombie apocalypse one day? Not likely, but then again, the way zombies have chomped their way into our pop culture the last several years, it's maybe a bit less implausible than it once was.
What IS increasingly quite plausible, alas, is a scary global pandemic, and “World War Z,” the long-awaited Brad Pitt thriller, cleverly melds that real-life threat into the more fanciful zombie premise.
But in the end, it's pretty much what you'd want in a summer blockbuster: scary but not-too-gross zombies, a fast-paced journey to exotic locales, a few quite thrilling action scenes, and did we mention Brad Pitt?
What Pitt offers the film is pretty much what his character, a level-headed former U.N. investigator, offers the endangered planet: Nothing too flashy, just a comfortable, intelligent presence that keeps things grounded and just might win the day.
The beginning — especially the first half of this movie — is promising. As fans of the book know, it was written as an oral history, a collection of individual accounts. The filmmakers wisely ditched that format for the sake of immediacy.
We begin in Philadelphia, on a sunny morning in the kitchen of Gerry Lane (Pitt), his wife Karin (Mireille Enos), and their two daughters. We learn quickly that Gerry has abandoned his former harrowing work in favor of a nice home life.
As the family drives off for the day, though, life changes in an instant. The streets of Philadelphia are suddenly and terrifyingly overrun by packs of wild, raging zombies. Once bit, it takes only seconds for a human to turn into one.
Talk about a leadership vacuum: The president is already dead. Thanks to his former U.N. boss, Gerry's family is whisked to an aircraft carrier, but there's a wee price for this protection: Gerry must head out to find the source of the outbreak.
For an hour, the action is swift: Clues gathered at a prison complex in North Korea lead Gerry to Israel, the only country to have smartly employed the use of walls, artificial and ancient. But then those persistent zombies stretch themselves into a teeming, terrifying tower of un-humanity. Gerry escapes just in time.
The final act takes place on a dramatically smaller scale, and at a slower pace.
It's worth noting that there are, amid the mayhem, occasional touches of humor. And one of them serves as a prudent reminder — to turn off those cell phones. After all, it's not just your movie-going partner you'll annoy here.
Cell phones also happen to awaken zombies. Consider yourself warned.
TITLE: “World War Z”CAST: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox and James Badge DaleDIRECTOR: Marc ForsterRATED: PG-13 for intense, frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing imagesGRADE: ★★★★ (out of 5)
