World War Z

This apocalyptic blockbuster starring Brad Pitt immerses you in a spectacle of zombie-oriented action from the start and barely allows the audience time to take a breather.

Directed by Marc Foster, and based on a novel by Max Brooks, World War Z follows Gerry Lane (Pitt), a former UN employee and go-to guy, as he tries to run from and beat away − with various implements − a global swarm of uprising zombies in order to secure the safety of his family and the world. If you like zombies, or “Z’s”, you won’t be disappointed. There are on average hundreds of thousands of them per scene. Like horrifying colonies of bacteria, they infest entire landscapes and, unlike your regular zombie thriller, these “Z’s” aren’t susceptible to sunlight so there is constant potential for an encounter.

The visuals are epic, as is the travel itinerary. Leaping from location to location, the patchwork of sets include Philadelphia, New York, South Korea, Israel and Wales, which leaves little room for comic or emotional relief.  But perhaps in this case simple calamity is best. For the brief moments that Pitt is stationary and reflective, or trying to call his wife and kids, all you want is for a zombie (or a thousand) to tear manically onto the scene. More often than not, that does indeed happen.

Humanity is decimated in the global pandemic of World War Z – entire populations are reduced to twitching, head jerking, screeching and, when excited by noise, an impressively rapid living dead. Fortunately, in the end it seems some hope may be found when a zombie plane crash scenario lands Pitt in the Welsh Valleys. Adopting the role of amateur scientist, his character attempts to understand and rectify the plague that is slowly but surely wiping out civilisation. After a bit of guesswork and further zombie-dodging, he becomes the guinea pig in a research facility that may hold the cure.

The narrative, depth and character development may be rather lacking but are more than made up for by fun, epic action and zombies galore. There is never a dull moment in this energetic and captivating crowd-pleaser.

Emily May

World War Z is released nationwide on 21^st June 2013.

Watch the trailer for World War Z here: