20140613: Horror Review--World War Z

World War Z

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, UR, 122 minutes (long cut), horror, zombies.
2. IMDB: 7.1/10.0 from 300,721 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 190 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 67% on the meter; 73% liked it from 295,125 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: Marc Forster.
5. Starring: Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, Mireille Enos as Karin Lane, Daniella Kertesz as Segen, James Badge Dale as Captain Speke, Ludi Boeken as Jurgen Warmbrunn, Matthew Fox as parajumper, Sterling Jerins as Constance Lane, Abigail Hargrove as Rachel Lane, Fana Mokoena as Thierry Umutoni.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Parents Gerry and Mireille have a nice life, and the day starts normally.  While taking their two daughters Constance and Abigail to school, the normal seeming traffic jam mutates into a full-blown disaster.  They encounter full-fledged zombies who are very fast and very strong.  The time interval between a zombie's bite and the victim turning seems to be about 12 seconds.


2. Gerry is a former UN investigator/facilitator who got people or information out of hotspots around the world, often with help from US Special Forces of one sort or another.  So the US/UN extracts him and his family after he makes his way to New Jersey.  The escape from the zombies is close, and young Tomas helps them in the final steps.  Tomas gets extracted with Gerry's family.


3. Gerry is sent to North Korea with an epidemiologist.  This does not go well, but Gerry does meet a CIA agent who gives him the next clue: the Israelis seem to be succeeding in repelling the zombies.  So Gerry and the elite military go to Israel.  On the way, they see a nuclear explosion in the far distance, and Gerry's contact with Karin is broken by the EMP.


4. Israel's wall worked, more or less, but they did not understand that zombies are attracted by noise.  Celebratory songs amplified by a PA system incite the zombies to scale the 45 foot walls, one undead body over another.  Gerry does learn that zombies were detected in India well before the incidents in Korea.  He heads to India, even though he has been told in no uncertain terms that India is a 'black hole' in terms of information flux.  Gerry gets on the literal last plane out of Israel.  He loses his UN escort, but gains Segen, an Israeli soldier whose hand he cut off...to save her from becoming a zombie.


5. Gerry takes the Belarus flight that he is on to the last remaining airport open, which is in Cardiff, Wales, UK.  Unfortunately, a zombie hid himself on the plane's lavatory, and soon starts infecting people.  Gerry gets a new set of difficulties, including a plane crash and a metal spike through his gut.  He and Segen trudge forward.


6. Will Gerry make it to the WHO research facility?  Will the information, which he has expressed to no one, come to light, and be put to good use?  Will his family be safe?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Smart plot about fast zombies that convert humans quickly.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Mostly excellent, though some of the dark fight scenes were


2. Sound: 8/10 No problems; though it might have been more effective for creepiness and suspense.


3. Acting: 10/10 Excellent.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 I liked it: action, suspense, quick thinking in difficult circumstances, and a plot that moved right along.  The final segments, concerning the workaround to the apocalypse, were quite fine.