WORLD WAR Z
Director : Marc Forster
Year : 2013
Genre : Thriller
Rating : ***
Creating an air of unbelievable dread and containing scenes of claustrophobic and engulfing terror, 'World War Z' is an efficiently made, if not poorly scripted apocalyptic horror movie from director Marc Forster. Based on the 2006 horror novel by Max Brooks and starring Brad Pitt, Merielle Enos and Fana Mokoena, 'World War Z' tells the story of a former United Nations officer who has to travel the world to search for a cure to a horrific zombie infection which has taken over humanity. Taking us across the globe from Israel to Wales, Forster is able to create an air of impending doom and helplessness with the use of rather brilliant special effects and well paced action scenes. However while extremely well made, the acting is below par and the ending is very rushed, almost to the point of inconceivability. It is a shame that the movie begins so well but ends so poorly.
Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN officer who has quit his job to spend more time with his growing family. But when a deadly virus breaks out and turns every person it comes into contact with into vicious zombies, Lane is called back into action by the United States to find a cure. His travels keeps his family safe but time is quickly running out; for both Gerry and his young family. Spreading to every corner of the globe, humanity is at risk of extinction and it is only a matter of time before the human race ends and the zombies take over.
No stranger to action films, Marc Forster is probably best known as the director of the ridiculously named Bond film 'Quantum Of Solace'. He demonstrates the same cinematic verve and kinetic camera work that made that movie so thrilling in 'World War Z' and with the help of a thundering score by Wes Craven regular Marco Beltrami, Forster surrounds us in both visual and aural horror. Utilising special effects to pretty terrifying results, he creates amazing set pieces that are extremely memorable and pretty awe inspiring. There is an astonishing scene shown in the trailer in which hundreds of thousands of zombies are seen climbing over each other to get over a huge brick wall in Israel to crave their ravenous appetites. While this scene looks impressive on television commercials, it is at the cinema where you can fully appreciate the scale and the magnitude of the relentless nature of the undead monsters. It reminded me of a colony of ants desperately clambering over each to get at the first tasty morsel of food and that is the mood set by Forster; an unstoppable horde determined to sink their teeth into anything that comes into their reach. Not since 'Dawn Of The Dead' or 'Dead Set' have I felt so unnerved and alarmed by the ferociousness of both the ghouls on screen and the direction in which it is filmed.
While the special effects and the camera work is highly impressive, the acting is pretty substandard. Brad Pitt isn't given much to do except run around the zombies and his family are the same conventional family we see at risk in every other horror film ever made; children who are suitably terrified and running into the arms of their mother and a woman desperately clinging to a phone, waiting to hear from her husband. It is a shame that the screenplay doesn't match the rest of the production of the film; if it did 'World War Z' really would be something to behold. It's not that it's bad per se, it is just highly generic and doesn't contain any surprises at all. I would have liked some plot twists or even a fair amount of character development so I could become involved in the narrative and the actors on screen. As it stands, 'World War Z' is much better visually than it is narratively. What is missing from the film is a beating heart within the tangle of it's exposed guts.
It has been a long while since a giant zombie blockbuster has been made and we have been well overdue for a scary, claustrophobic horror movie. Since the success of 'Shaun Of The Dead', producers have been convinced that zom-coms are the only ways to go with the subgenre and as a result, we have had a slew of zombie comedies that have varied in quality. 'Zombieland', 'Cockneys Vs. Zombies', 'Juan Of The Dead' and 'Warm Bodies' have all contained humour but very little scares. 'World War Z' takes its horror much more seriously and you will be pushed to find a single smile in it. More interested in scaring rather than making his audience laugh, Forster pushes us into the realms of hopelessness and apocalyptic terror. It may not be as gory as other zombie films, but you will be hard pushed to find one which is as claustrophobic and nihilistic as this one.
For a $190 million dollar zombie blockbuster, 'World War Z' isn't half as bad as it could be. Yes, the dialogue is stilted and character development is at ground level. But it is the visuals and the overwhelming air of terror that sets it apart from almost every other zombie movie ever made. For fans of the subgenre, 'World War Z' is a fun, exhilarating ride that should scare and intrigue in equal measures. We have never seen the global extent of a zombie apocalypse in cinema and now, thanks to this film, I think we have.
FOR ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN THE
PUNK/ALTERNATIVE MUSIC SCENE, THE UPCOMING BIRMINGHAM BAND 'DRAG' IS IN NEED OF SUPPORT TO
HELP FUND THE RELEASE OF THEIR BRILLIANT DEBUT ALBUM 'NEUROTICA : A COMPENDIUM
OF TALES REGARDING BODY AND SOUL'. GO ON, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO :
No comments:
Post a Comment