World War Z (in 2D)

            Let's get this out of the way:  I am a huge fan of zombies.  I love zombie movies, games and books.  However, I like to think of myself as a discerning fan.  Sure, I'll play/watch/read damn near anything with the undead in it, but I have standards damn it.  I only want the best of the best of the undead menace.

            So when I heard that World War Z was being made into a film I got pretty excited.  I fully believe that this book was responsible for helping kick-start the latest zombie craze.  Despite being one of the first 21st century zombie books, it's still one of the best.  The audio-book version is simply the best audio-book ever recorded thanks to amazing talents such as Mark Hammil, Nathan Fillion, Carl Reiner, Simon Pegg, Alan Alda, Martin Scorsese, Henry Rollins, Kal Penn, John Turturro, a million other fantastic individuals and Max Brooks himself all lending the perfect voice to their proscribed characters.

            It was, then, with very high hopes that I eagerly awaited the film version of World War Z in which Brad Pitt himself was going to make sure it happened.  But oh, how was a book of short stories that happened to overlap and tell the tale of mankind's struggle against the undead going to work on the silver screen?  Easy!  By dumping the entire concept, writing a completely new character and just keeping the name of the book!  Shit.

            On to the review!

            Like I said, I'm a fan of zombies.  28 Days Later, Fido, Sean of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead all take a look at the sociological, psychological and physical reactions of mankind when faced with nigh-unkillable, slavering versions of ourselves.  But at their heart, all of these films focus on individuals simply seeking ways to stay alive (or in Fido's case, live together in harmony).  World War Z attempts to give us a super-hero in Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and make him the savior of mankind. 

            Strangely enough, the first half hour of the film is just freaking amazing.  As the outbreak begins to spread, Gerry and his family are just living a normal life.  With his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and two daughters Constance (Sterling Jerins) and Rachel (Abigail Hargrove), they're perfectly ordinary individuals who happened to be stuck in Philadelphia traffic when the zombie menace breaks out.  This first portion of the film focuses solely on how Gerry tries to protect his family. Getting medicine, finding somewhere safe to hide, figuring out who to trust.  This is the stuff that matters and its small-scale is perfectly suited to the actors and the story. 

            Unfortunately for us, things take a turn once Gerry and family are rescued by his friend Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena) who just happens to have a lot of pull and gets Gerry's entire family safely bunked on a U.S. warship.  Oh, did I forget to mention that Gerry is a retired World Health Organization official who was the 'best of the best' despite us never really knowing what the hell he did for the W.H.O.?

            In order for Gerry's wife and kids to stay on the ship, he has to help figure out the location of the outbreak as well as help to find a cure.  With that, he is sent off with a small squad of military specialists and a brilliant doctor.  Their job?  Save the world!

            Of course shit goes down and people start to die left-and-right, but for some reason Gerry gets to just stand there like a smug douche and be nigh-untouchable, even in the most dire situations.

            Look, the locations are amazing, the special effects are not quite as shitty as they appeared to be in the trailers, and the acting from everyone who is not Brad Pitt is actually quite good.  They even tried to throw in a few facts from the books to placate those of us who actually wanted an adaptation of the novel.  What they didn't bother with, however, was making the movie any fun.  Brad Pitt stone faces his way through the entire movie, and the ending is never in any doubt.  It's not a zombie movie.  It's an action-packed outbreak movie (like Outbreak!) that focuses on a team of super-special individuals trying to save the world from a deadly, tiny menace.

            I was surprised by the beginning and really got into it, and then the rest of the film fell flat, got stupid, and hurt my feelings.  Sadly enough I may be in the minority as the theater was absolutely packed at the noon showing I attended. People actually gave it a standing ovation while the end credits rolled!  So give it a try.  Maybe you'll like it.  I, however, would rather watch 28 Days Later again.  At least the zombies in that movie didn't create fleshy tidal waves.