World War Z (Marc Forster)

[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:

[

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"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:

[

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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: [

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There is never a cure.

] So I did enjoy that this one instead [

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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?"

[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.