WORLD WAR Z (2013 - HORROR / ACTION / ZOMBIE FLICK) **** out of *****
(Oh, goddamnit: the Zombie Apocalypse is here - again...)
CAST: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, Fana Mokoena, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Ludi Boeken, Pierfrancesco Favino, Ruth Negga, Abigail Hargrove, Peter Capaldi, Sterling Jerins, Elyes Gabel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Fabrizio Zacharee Guido.
DIRECTOR: Marc Forster
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good reasons to prepare for the impending Zombie Apocalypse - straight ahead.
IT'S LIKE THIS: Ah, the Zombie Flick... If there has ever been a cinematic sub-genre that has successfully walked the tricky gauntlet and morphed from "guilty-B-movie-pleasure" to "cool-and-hip-experience," it is this one. If only George Romero could've seen the future waaaaaay back in 1968 when he released the Grand-Daddy Of Zombie Flicks, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD... I wonder if he would have copyrighted and patented the term "Living Dead" or "Zombie Apocalypse" (which is basically the idea of the Earth being overrun by the walking maggot farms)? I sure as fuck would have. Forget about going back in a time machine and buying stock in Google or starting Facebook before Mark Zuckerberg ever got that first glimmer in his conniving little eyes, folks. Legally claiming the rights to the Zombie Flick Sub-Genre before it exploded in popularity would have been a much more surefire way to fame and fortune.
Unfortunately, Georgie R. wasn't clairvoyant, and he probably thought his little low-budget indie flick about seven hapless humans barricading themselves in an isolated farmhouse, while ravenous flesh-eating pus-bags circle outside in exponentially-increasing numbers, would probably just turn a respectable profit and nothing more. Instead, however, it went off like a supernova at the box-office and became not just a landmark American horror film, but a landmark film - period. Next thing you knew, cinemas and theatres were inundated over the next four decades with sequels and copycats and spin-offs and rip-offs and satires and remakes and reimaginings with titles like THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE, DAWN OF THE DEAD, ZOMBIE, TOMB OF THE BLIND DEAD, CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD, OASIS OF THE LIVING DEAD, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, DAY OF THE DEAD, LAND OF THE DEAD, I FUCKED A ZOMBIE and ASSHOLE OF THE LIVING DEAD. Okay, I was kidding about those last two, but just barely. Is it any surprise that 3 out of 5 Americans today are convinced that the Zombie Apocalypse is eventually going to occur? This is according to a poll I conducted on a group of drunk friends one night at a party several years ago - so forgive me if my scientific process is a bit suspect.
Well, if our latest review is any indication, I'm not too far off the mark. WORLD WAR Z chronicles what happens when a mysterious new super-virus spreads around the planet, without any kind of warning, and turns its victims into rabid, biting ghouls who run faster than Jackie Joyner-Kersey on a major caffeine spike. And if you are bitten, you yourself will turn into a rabid, biting ghoul who can run faster than Jackie Joyner-Kersey on a major caffeine spike - in ten seconds flat. It’s kind of like a searing case of Herpes running rampant among a horny submarine crew. So, as you can imagine, humanity is pretty much fucked.
Unless our hero can save the day, that is. He is Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), recently retired United Nations investigator from Philadelphia whose first day as Mr. Mom/Stay At Home Husband is seriously cock-blocked when the virus explodes in downtown Philly at the height of rush hour. Before you know it, Gerry, wife Karin (Mireille Enos), and daughters Connie and Abby (Sterling Jerins & Abigail Hargrove) are carjacking a camper and high-tailing it out of the big city to avoid being devoured by the suddenly-transformed downtown lunchtime crowd. If you know what I mean.
Now, if Gerry was just a mere doctor or lawyer or architect, he and his family would be so supremely screwed. But, as mentioned before, our hero is a former UN investigator. And UN investigators usually have friends in very high places who come in very handy during international emergencies - and Gerry is no exception. One quick phone call to his former boss, Thierry (Fana Mokoena), swiftly confirms that Zombiegeddon is here - and Thierry quickly arranges for a chopper to pick up Gerry and his brood. Of course, by the time the chopper arrives the next morning, Gerry's family has increased by one: he now has a foster son named Tommy (Fabrizio Zachary Guido), the kid of the kind-hearted and self-sacrificing Spanish couple who allowed Gerry and his clan to hide in their flat until the chopper could arrive. Unfortunately, the zombies showed up and cornered Tommy's mom and pop and, well, it's a mess. Trust me.
Anyhow, Gerry, Karin, Abby, Connie, and Tommy are all whisked away to some aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean - where what appears to be the Most Depressingly Tragic Block Party Ever is unfolding. The ship is filled with two kinds of people: (1) desperate survivors and refugees like Gerry and his peeps; and (3) high-falutin' military mucky-mucks and bossy government big-wigs running around and barking orders and trying to basically find out what the fuck is going on. Which leads me to why Thierry so generously sent a private chopper to fetch Gerry's family (plus new foster son) and whisk them away to safety. Oh, I'm sure that friendship and loyalty had something to do with it - but I would be high off my gourd if I pretended that's all that motivated Thierry's actions.
You see, it turns out that Gerry is a bit of a SuperStud when it comes to his former job. If there was a James Bond Award for U.N. Investigating, at least five Gold Medals would be hanging on Gerry's walls. That is, if the zombies hadn't already leveled his study and the rest of this house along with it. It's this special ability of Gerry's that Thierry wants to exploit - by sending Gerry back into the field to find out how the zombie virus started. Thierry says that Karin, Connie, Abby, and Tommy's sanctuary on the ship is contingent on Gerry agreeing to go back into the jaws of death (millions of them), and doing what he does best - investigating. Bottom line: if he declines, they're back on that rooftop in Philly in a couple of hours.
I don't have to tell you that the look on Gerry's face at this ultimatum is pretty priceless. After suppressing his rage and counting to ten (maybe even a thousand), Gerry finally agrees to go back out into the zombie warzone to uncover what's what. But not before making a mental note to shove Thierry's head into a toilet bowl, when the whole zombie clusterfuck is over, and flush it repeatedly until the fucker begs for mercy. I, for one, can't wait to see that happen.
After a tearful farewell with Karin and the kids (get over it, guys, daddy has to work now), Gerry boards a C-130 with a bunch of commandos. Their destination: South Korea, where a communique with the word "zombie" in it was intercepted by U.S. Intelligence weeks before the mass outbreak. Hence, Thierry thinks that an important clue is waiting at the Army base where the email originated from. Geez, for these fuckers' sakes, I hope that it wasn't just some stupid tweet from some nerdy fanboy soldier to another, extolling the virtues of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Because that would be hilarious in a horrendously fucked-up way.
Along for the mission is Dr. Fassbach (Elyes Gabel). According to Thierry, he is some kind of genius virologist - and is Gerry's best ally and hope in the quest to uncover the source of the zombie virus. Unfortunately, Fassbach is also one of those obnoxious super-duper brilliant scientists who are exceedingly book-smart - but have less-than-zero street smarts and are about as sharp as overcooked broccoli when they are out in the field (AKA The Real World).
Sure enough, a mere few minutes after landing at the abandoned army base in South Korea, the "brilliant" Dr. Fassbach accidentally shoots himself in the head with his own gun. Yes, folks... you read that right: the alleged genius virologist who is supposed to save the world... shoots... himself... in... the... head... with... his... OWN... GUN. This is the guy that is supposed to help Gerry? I don't know if Fassbitch's death is a bad thing - or a very, very good thing because he's out of the picture now and can’t fuck shit up. Judging by the look of relief on Gerry's face, I think I'll go with the latter. Probably wanted to strangle the asshole from the moment they met.
So what will happen now that Gerry is on his own and without scientific help? Will he be able to trace the source of the virus to "Patient Zero?" Who could it be? Is it someone in the army base in South Korea? Or elsewhere? What happens when the trail leads Gerry to Israel? Why have the Israelis been building a 200-foot wall around Jerusalem for the past 3 months? Did they know something in advance? If so, why didn't they share it with the rest of the world? And will that wall really keep the zombies out? And why do the zombies avoid attacking certain people? Why are these individuals special? Could this lead to a cure - or at the very least, a way to "camouflage" humans from the zombies? And how will Gerry discover it? Will the surviving doctors (Pierfrancesco Favino, Ruth Negga, Peter Capaldi, & Moritz Bleibtreu) at a World Health Organization clinic in Cardiff, Wales that has been overrun with zombies be able to help? Or is the world destined to lose World War Z?
Guess.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: If there was ever a film that had an eventful journey from novel to screen, it's WORLD WAR Z. The last film I can think of that had a similarly torturous adaptation from book to movie is another Paramount Pictures release from 1993: Sharon Stone's misunderstood thriller, SLIVER. Like SLIVER, WORLD WAR Z is based on a bestselling novel that the studios were sure would make for a good film. Like SLIVER, WORLD WAR Z changed significantly throughout development and initial filming. And like SLIVER, WORLD WAR Z got a lukewarm response from early screenings by Paramount - necessitating extensive reshoots that resulted in a very different ending.
Unlike SLIVER, though, the reshoots actually benefited WORLD WAR Z and improved the finished product. SLIVER's original ending was darker and way ahead of its time, with the heroine completely embracing the dark side, making it somewhat of an early forerunner to FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY - but with more of a thriller feel. Had Paramount stood their ground and supported their original vision for SLIVER, despite initial test screening reactions, I'm sure it would have been a stronger film.
But they decided to play it safe and had Joe Eszterhas (SLIVER's adapting screenwriter who also wrote BASIC INSTINCT) "sanitize" the film and make it less edgy. As a result, SLIVER misfired at the box-office because the story was significantly compromised by the changed ending. The original finale was far more intriguing and made more sense, because it brought Sharon Stone's character, Carly, full circle to her dark destiny.
On the other hand, WORLD WAR Z's original third act and ending were, from what I read, overly-complicated and too heavy on the action. The powers-that-be at Paramount correctly decided to delay WORLD WAR Z's release so that the last third of the film could be changed to something more cerebral, suspenseful, and less action-oriented. Unlike with SLIVER, Paramount made the right decision this time: the new third act and finale are of WORLD WAR Z are solid examples of how to build genuine suspense and dread with very little ingredients. The original ending was just not good enough, and the new one is much better, saving the film instead of hurting it like what happened with SLIVER's reshoots.
Brad Pitt is in solid form as Gerry Lane. He doesn't really have much time to establish his character in our minds before the zombie crisis hits, so Pitt uses good old-fashioned charisma to do the trick. And it works. By the time the madness explodes in the street at around the five-minute mark, we are right in step with the Lane family as they try to survive the horrible circumstances they (and the rest of the World) suddenly find themselves in, because Pitt’s inherent likability sells the character. Mireille Enos as Karin Lane is also effective, especially considering she is playing someone who has more “unspoken lines” than she does spoken ones. Karin has to convey a lot of her fear and concern through expressions and glances, and Enos’ innately expressive face comes in very handy for this.
Pitt (who also produced the film) wisely surrounds himself with relative unknowns like Enos. There are no other A-List celebrities (aside from Pitt) in this movie to distract us from the situation at hand. The result: the characters feel real and like actual human beings – not stars in make-up and costume. Aside from Enos, the other major supporting cast standout is Daniella Kertesz as Segen, a female Israeli soldier who becomes Gerry’s unlikely ally in unraveling the zombie contagion. We joked earlier that Gerry is like the “James Bond of the UN.” If we go with that analogy, then it’s also fair to say that Segen is his “Bond Girl” – and a very resourceful and resilient one, at that. Kertesz more than holds her own next to her much more accomplished and veteran co-star.
James Badge Dale, David Morse, and Ludi Boeken are all strong as various characters who each hold different pieces of the puzzle that Gerry is trying to solve. Dale, in particular, is quite good as an average American army grunt at the South Korean base, who rises to the occasion when the occasion gets seriously nasty. Morse is suitably creepy and compelling in equal measure as a CIA traitor who shares with Gerry some very disturbing information about how North Korea is combating the zombie plague. And Boeken is a refreshingly straight-talking presence as the Israeli war strategist who has taken a very pragmatic stance on fighting the contagion.
The final (and most eerie) act of WORLD WAR Z takes place at an isolated World Health Organization laboratory outside Cardiff, Wales. This last section of the movie was the subject of the extensive reshoots we talked about earlier – and in my opinion it is easily the best part of the film. I like how the movie starts with a bang – and revs up into an action-packed rollercoaster ride. Then it reaches this final stretch at the zombie-infested WHO lab – and things slow down considerably. At this point, the narrative transforms quite unexpectedly into a strikingly suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse, with Gerry, Segen, and the surviving lab doctors trying to outwit the zombies who are lurking around every corner. It a bravura sequence that is downright Hitchcockian. The fact that the studio insisted on this more pared-down and nail-biting finale is welcome proof that maybe the powers-that-be in Hollywood sometimes know what is best. Unlike with SLIVER’s reshoots and revised ending.
Director Marc Forster, who caught a lot of flak for his nearly-nauseous herky-jerky camerawork in the Bond flick QUANTUM OF SOLACE, appears to have improved considerably as an action director. WORLD WAR Z’s action setpieces are exciting and easy to track, unlike QUANTUM’s sequences, which were often confusing and dizzying. However, QUANTUM also had a certain bleak, sinister atmosphere to it that gave the story some gravity and punch – and Forster brings that same sense of realism and danger to WORLD WAR Z. As we follow Gerry from the US to South Korea, then to Israel, and finally to that overrun WHO lab in Wales, there is genuine tension and the impression that anything can happen at any time – to anyone. That is the mark of true suspense.
Ultimately, WORLD WAR Z’s reshoots and revised ending saved it – and it is an invigorating and excitingly atypical entry into the crowded Zombie Flick sub-genre. Given the big box-office that greeted the film upon release, Paramount immediately announced that a sequel will soon go into production – and that is welcome news, indeed. Let’s hope that WORLD WAR Z 2 will be another potent blend of visceral action and hushed terror – just like this one.
