World War Z (Marc Forster)

[EyesWideOpen]

imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=sr_1)

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc261/gothamcentral79/WorldWarZ-Poster_zpsbc9eb456.jpeg (http://s213.photobucket.com/user/gothamcentral79/media/WorldWarZ-Poster_zpsbc9eb456.jpeg.html)

[Scar]

Found it rather intense, but the ending stunk of rewrites and reshoots. I'd like to see the original ending.

[Henry Gale]

Nothing earth-shattering or even particularly genre-elevating beyond its relatively expanded scale and global coverage of a zombie outbreak, but it's solid, gripping stuff.

The way the film introduced its device for measuring the time it takes for people to turn once they're bitten was the moment where I thought, "Hmm, this is kinda impressive." It's fairly consistent from that point forward, with a few bumps along the way, but the re-shot third act brings it home with a nice, tightly-constructed finale that plays like a less bloody 28 Days/Weeks Later setpiece.

[plain]

Oh man, such a hot mess. Without even peeking at IMDB, this has to be close to the worst thing that Pitt has starred in. Haven't read the novel, but this comes across as such an airless and patchwork adaptation. So much static tension and a narrative comprised of nearly nothing of interest.

Some other stray thoughts:

Brad Pitt's laugh after his daughter asks what Martial Law means.

Matthew Fox existing in this film for all of 2 minutes (nice to see you're getting good work, dude).

The fact that I care more about Pitt's relationship with shaved-head female soldier than with his wife is bad.

The complaint that the film should have been rated R is kinda off; enough bloodshed and gore found here.

2013 is apparently the year of James Badge Dale (insert shoulder shrug).

The exterior shot of Pitt's home in the very beginning makes it look like the O'Brien home in The Tree of Life (that's fucking interesting, man.)

Umm, what else? Pitt drinking that Pepsi! Fin

[Watashi]

No way can this worse than Troy.

[plain]

yeah, probably not.

[Sxottlan]

Not a disaster by any means, but also nothing special. Worth a viewing I suppose. Definitely feels fragmented. Pacing wise it moves along fairly well for much of the running time. There's nuttiness within ten minutes and we never exactly hear what the disease is. We hear the word "rabies" once and that's it. So basically it's 28 Days Later on a more global scale. Unfortunately all the decent and big set pieces were spoiled in the trailers (the plane scene being the best). Even if one did not know about the reshoots, they'd still probably notice how absolutely slow the last quarter gets. The movie just grinds to a halt and turns into your typical run around a building avoiding zombies bit. I remember a long time ago when this project was announced and the artwork we saw of massive zombie battles. It's a big letdown compared even to concept art. We see a montage that frustratingly appears to show more of a possible original ending with humanity fighting back. We're treated to some great imagery of Russians charging a line of zombies and bulldozers piling up the Zekes in landfills five stories high. They put that unconvincing TV video effect over the shots, leading me to believe we were seeing special effects shots that were meant to be truly "seen" by the audience in the film.

About the one new thing for this film to contribute was the behavior of the "Zekes." Never before have you seen this complete disregard for a zombie's "self-preservation" if one can call it that. The film bludgeons you over the head with this concept of alien behavior within the animal kingdom in the opening credits. But I liked the idea of this virus using a mass of infected hosts as building blocks and hammers to knock over buses. I had hoped to see something really over the top like some kind of self-aware virus that communicates between hosts. We're even told that the Zekes don't like it when you kill one of them, almost lending some credence to this. But it's never explored. I did like that there wasn't any cannibalism as it seems the virus's goal was simply to spread. It helped avoid that age-old contradiction that zombies like to eat people, yet we never seen a half-eaten zombie. The nature of the Zekes however is something that the writers seem to struggle with. Some characters call them undead, yet we clearly see that they're ill and never actually died.

I like what I've seen of Enos, but she's not given anything to do here. Hey look! It's David Morse! Haven't seen him in awhil- Oh. I guess we're done with him. Okay. He was just used as exposition to move on to the next scene. Pitt's Lane appears to be the only person on Earth actually observing the Zekes' behavior and figuring anything out.

I have not read the book, but I'd like to now. Given what I've heard of it's format, I can't help but but think what this would have been like if someone like Tarantino had taken on this material. Not that he would have wanted to, but I think it would have been fascinating to see.

[Skitch]

Biggest zombie movie opening weekend ever. Biggest Brad Pitt opening weekend ever.

[Dukefrukem]

Holy shit. $66 million domestic, $110 WW.

This has a higher RT rating than Man of Steel.

[Ezee E]

There seems to be some good reviews coming out of this. With all that went on, I find that surprising. Anyone even see this?

EDIT: So far, nothing beyond "okay." Hmm...

[Henry Gale]

It's actually miraculous that the movie turned out to be even half as decent as it is did, let alone leading to as much financially successful as it already has. But somewhere along the line, they decided to take steps (even hugely expensive ones) further than any production I can recall to fix their mess, and whaddya know, it's paid off ridiculously well for them.

Whether or not anyone's actually interested in the movie, the big Vanity Fair article (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/06/brad-pitt-world-war-z-drama) summarizing everything around it is really worth reading. There's no spoilers for the final version of the movie, but it's incredible even just how far into the committed to the original, horribly conceived third act before completely unending it, especially since they couldn't even technically pull it off with their agreed upon PG-13.

I'm not even sure what the movie would've looked like without Goddard and Lindelof's added bits in the first half either.

[Dukefrukem]

This was way better than I was expecting. Is that saying much? Probably not. It's edited very poorly during the violent scenes to keep it PG-13. But it's a few scenes short of being a good flick. I thought they had a good idea going trying to track down the origin. Moving from place to place, hearing someone recount the events that transpired, maybe some extra dramatization flash backs... that would have been a nice throwback to how the book was narrated. But that seemed to dissolve after Israel. I didn't like how they practically ignore the boy that saved them. "Hey pal, both your parents just died but watch over my little girls will ya?"

So is that really what a grenade on a plane would do?

[Dukefrukem]

Matthew Fox existing in this film for all of 2 minutes (nice to see you're getting good work, dude).



He wasn't supposed to be in the movie at all. What role did he play?

[Scar]

I'd bet vital parts of my anatomy that it would easily compromise the integrity of the aircraft.

[Dukefrukem]

Oh and sequel talk already rumbling.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paramount-brad-pitt-set-sights-573814

[Henry Gale]

He wasn't supposed to be in the movie at all. What role did he play?

He headed up the Seal team on the chopper heading to the rooftop, shouting commands, looking for the flares. My friend claimed he was also there when they told Pitt's family they couldn't be on the ship anymore.

My feeling is he had a lot more to do in the original iteration of the film, especially since he secured fifth billing or so prior to everything changing. Funny then how Lindelof of all people was essentially in charge of factoring him out of things.


There seems to be some good reviews coming out of this. With all that went on, I find that surprising. Anyone even see this?

EDIT: So far, nothing beyond "okay." Hmm...

Ultimately, for its more inventive, unique approaches to zombie science and intense set pieces, I'd say it's worth watching, just maybe not in theatres. The film does have some really, notably impressive sound design though. So if you do end up just catching it at home down the line, make sure it sounds nice.

[Sven]

If that Vanity Fair article is to be believed, the history of the production of this movie is a lot less interesting than they want you to believe it is. Basically, there were some discussions where conflicting opinions were voiced, extras got grumpy because the caterers didn't have enough food, it went over-budget, and they did some reshoots. Sounds like the story of every big budget film production out there. Exaggerations in attempt to supplement marketing costs.

[Morris Schæffer]

I'd bet vital parts of my anatomy that it would easily compromise the integrity of the aircraft.

Lethal weapon 3 :)

[Scar]

Lethal weapon 3 :)

Took me a minute. Opening scene, right?

[Morris Schæffer]

Took me a minute. Opening scene, right?

Yeah :D

[wigwam]

Contagion for retards. Worthless.

[Scar]

Contagion for retards. Worthless.

:|

[Rowland]

It's like a horror game that is never boring, but ends after only a handful of levels while never being particularly scary due to its tame scares and mundanely polished atmosphere; or an action game that throws you off with a clunky stealth segment that was obviously developed in haste to pad out the length (though it's still arguably the film's best sequence). Brad Pitt playing Brad Pitt makes for an agreeable protagonist, the running time honestly feels a lot shorter than it is (all that post-production tinkering clearly paid off here), and a nihilistic tone is admirably maintained throughout, with the fate of a whiz kid set up as humanity's last hope being a blackly comic highlight in that respect.

Unfortunately, the film also feels as if it's missing a final act, the closing minutes playing like a hilariously transparent admittance by the filmmakers that they just wanted to move on with their lives so fuck it; and while I haven't seen Quantum of Solace, I'd always suspected that the widespread accusations regarding Forster's alleged incompetence at action direction were exaggerated. As it turns out, I suspected wrong, which probably explains in part why the last two set pieces worked best for me, with their self-contained environments and decreased emphasis on widespread carnage.

Otherwise, while the production values are handsome, the PG-13 rating and overreliance on video-gamey zombie hordes often leave the horror elements feeling as toothless as David Morse's amusing cameo, and like most video-games (why do I keep returning to this point of comparison?), there are a handful of nifty ideas scattered throughout that are undermined by largely insipid writing and zero poetry. On the other hand, this IS a summer blockbuster that feels nearly half its actual length, so maybe I'm undervaluing it?

[Morris Schæffer]

So is that really what a grenade on a plane would do?

Perhaps not, but that whole scene was so intense and visually frightening that I went along with it. And I suppose it helps that Jerry was out of options. Even the crash is fantastic and I suppose it's a good thing they fade to black after a few seconds otherwise it might have become too elaborate with possibly silly FX to draw it all out, turning it into the finale of Air Force One. Although it's kinda stupid that only the principals survive and no one else (except the zombie stuck in the chair).

The action direction as per the zombie attacks is some of the most incoherently frenetic I've seen all year, but it's kinda telling that the zombies become scarier in the last 30 minutes when there's a few of the slower variants strolling around. The zombies in the rest of the movie aren't really scary, but a lot of the thrills come from a tremendously persuasive sense of scale and escalating discomfort.

This'll probably end up the tensest movie of the summer and I don't feel that is damning with faint praise. This was really good.

Although it begs the question: Would this have underperformed if it had been gory, rated R nastiness?

[transmogrifier]

Contagion for retards. Worthless.

Well, then I'm a retard, because I much preferred this over Soderbergh's colourless dirge.

[transmogrifier]

Overall, it has some great set-pieces but ultimately it has too many unconnected set pieces. By the time we get to the plane, it starts to stretch the credibility to breaking point. ("ANOTHER emergency that he is going to survive by the skin of his teeth?"). Why they didn't just have the medical research centre in Jerusalem and connect the siege to the fight to get there, I'll never know.

I think if the film had been more structurally ambitious and broken the film into two distinct sections - escape from Philadelphia and escape from Jerusalem - each basically one non-stop chase sequence, with a short interlude on the ship, it could have been something special.

One thing though: it commits one of the biggest cliches around, the "I have no time to explain!" phone call, when literally it would have taken him ten seconds to say:

"I think that if you have a terminal illness, the zombies ignore you. We can use this as camouflage. Get people on that, would you?"

The only way that could have been saved is if, at the end:

Pitt proves that it works, gets rescued and finds that the rest of the world has already figured it out independently.

[Thirdmango]

I didn't hate this, but didn't really love it either. Just sort of a middle of the road, glad I saw it on a tuesday morning kind of film. I liked that it wasn't as scary as I expected since I just don't like scary movies, there were a couple of shock value moments but it was mostly just zombies being fast zombies.

One of my biggest problems with zombie movies in general is: There is never a cure. So I did enjoy that this one instead found a camouflage at least.

[Scar]

Currently watching an Unrated cut, and so far there's some added CG blood during biting, and the amputation is definitely not bloodless anymore.

[slqrick]

Currently watching an Unrated cut, and so far there's some added CG blood during biting, and the amputation is definitely not bloodless anymore.

Just saw the Unrated cut last night, and don't know how it compares to the original, but overall it was better than I expected. The first 20 minutes are probably the best part of the film though, and the story momentum comes to a standstill later on in the movie. Some interesting action pieces, but Forster still sucks at big budget directing. It's a slightly above average Yay for me.

[Scar]

I still enjoy the part in the lab, but the final couple minutes is still irritating. I'll be waiting for an Uber-Extended Ultimate Director's Producer's BluRay cut.

[Skitch]

Finally caught this in the dollar theater...and was kind of shocked how much I enjoyed it. I was not that enthralled with the trailers but I quite liked it. Scar is right about the end, and I am curious how they originally ended it, but its not a deal breaker. I like when they avoid cliches, particularly Pitt on the edge of the building counting scene and the army guy "I'm a zeke" bit. Not a masterpiece or anything but the best bit of zombie fare I've seen since 28 Days Later (unless I'm forgetting something). Even without the blood, the theatrical cut is quite intense.

[Ezee E]

This is actually pretty good whenever they aren't trying to actually progress story, character, or make any sense of what's going on...

That's a very negative, deserving sentence. But when the movie is on, it's very much on. I don't think there's been as tense of a zombie movie since 28 Weeks Later. The airplane crash was the most effective of all, but the hospital scene plays pretty well, and despite making fun of the anthill, it plays out well on screen. I enjoyed this.

[Dukefrukem]

"Man all those re-shoots must have cost a fortune... how'd they pay for that?"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2cS5Fv5xIQ

[Grouchy]

This was surprisingly good. Brad Pitt drinking Pepsi and walking sealed the deal for me.

It's not a classic, but for a large big-budget Hollywood tentpole taking zombies seriously, it hit all the right marks for me and had some moments of genuine, refreshing character interaction. Third act was the best. I haven't read Max Brooks so I have no idea how many good ideas came from that. But this was a very cool viewing.

[eternity]

This was dumb, but I really appreciated that the pacing and plot development allowed for the possibility of anything to happen at just about any time. The element of uncertainty has been so lacking in these videogame-like movies this year (looking at you, Gravity) that I was impressed that there is an actual sense of danger.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This was diverting. Wafer-thin, but diverting. Like a humorless Irwin Allen picture. I'm super-bummed that so little of the source material made it into the film, but there are tiny (tiny (very small)) hints of the book's social intrigue. Israel's "tenth man," North Korea's brilliant plan, the hints of the larger battles at the end. The hospital sequence at the end felt a lot like a Metal Gear Solid game, but it's a nice sustained sequence that plays out with clear logic and stakes, which is a nice break from the seat-of-pants plotting that zips Pitt from city to city. I would've liked to see more human moments. I don't think I saw the extended cut, so maybe the longer version will be like Dawn of the Dead 04's revision, which was less about adding gore and more about giving the characters more time to exist as people.

The idea of camouflaging against zombies was a nifty one.

[Skitch]

I watched the extended cut last night. I think it added three random squirts of cgi blood and some pumping blood to the amputation scene. If there was any more than that added, I didn't notice.

[Peng]

The opening news montage hits different more than 10 years later. I should probably dislike this even on first watch since I've read the book, but not loving the book (although I can see myself loving a faithful adaptation) and knowing about it beforehand really helped. And even if it's a new story, some semblance of the book's structure remains and makes this gear towards episodic adventure. That renders the pacing refreshing in how it just focuses on one set-piece to the next with minimum useless exposition, even if that approach also veers towards incoherence at times. Initial Philadelphia traffic sequence of continuous, confused shock waves remains the film's peak. 6.5/10

[Skitch]

I havent read the book, but dig the movie. Probably about the same score. I'm not crazy about the movie as a whole, but that scene with Pitt on the rooftop was nearly worth the whole score to me. So good.