World War Z (Marc Forster)

[EyesWideOpen]

imdb

[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 [

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"rabies"

] once and that's it. So basically it's [

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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 [

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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. [

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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 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/new...-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 [

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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

[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. [

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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.