I read the novel World War Z, by Max Brooks, this summer, and it blew me away. If you haven't read it, you should - it's a genuinely original, well-thought-out take on the standard zombie apocalypse theme. It would also make a pretty awesome film - the problem is, that film does not exist. What we have instead is a film that's called World War Z, and has zombies, and is connected to the book only by those two things. Seriously, if it weren't for the name, it would be impossible to tell that this film is an adaptation of the book. Basically, the book World War Z is an account of how the world fell to the undead, and how humanity eventually recovered. It takes the form of a series of interviews with characters from various countries, and is written like a real history - Brooks is clearly very knowledgeable when it comes to international politics and world history (though he clearly knows fuck all about Clement Attlee) and he tells a thoroughly plausible story. If the world ever were to be taken over by zombies, I'm sure it would go down a lot like it does in World War Z.
The film World War Z is about Brad Pitt running away from zombies. He has a family, and for some reason we're supposed to care about them, though they're on screen for about ten minutes and the scenes that do focus on them contain about half as much character development as an advert for dog food. the sad thing is, Pitt's wife and daughters (I think they might have names, but I honestly can't remember) are the most well-developed characters in the film. There is also an Israeli soldier who gets bitten on the hand (making this the only zombie film where I was momentarily rooting for the undead) but it's ok, because Brad Pitt cuts off her hand and thus stops the infection. That's how the audience finds out that amputating a bitten limb can stop someone becoming infected, and the only purpose of that character seems to be to demonstrate that. Which would be fine, if the audience didn't already know that because it's been in every fucking zombie film ever made. The plot consists of Brad Pitt being saved from the zombies by various people, and eventually finding way to beat the zombies. I won;t tell you what it is, because I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise of just how mind-bogglingly idiotic is is. M Night Shyamalan could come up with a better plot twist than this. If he was in a coma. And could only speak in pronouns.
There are some good things about this film. Firstly, the zombies are very impressive - firstly because they're fast (monsters are scarier when you can't escape them by powerwalking) and secondly because they're very well acted. That may sound weird, but the way that the zombies move in this film is great. They look properly inhuman, like some kind of predator rather than just some walking corpses. Secondly, there is one very impressive shot where Brad Pitt etc. are in Israel, and the Israelis have built a wall to keep the zombies out. The camera pans to show a tower of zombies clambering over one another to get over the wall, and that is a very nice peice of staging. Watch that one shot. Then turn the film off, and spare yourself the ninety minutes of tedium that surround it.
This film reminds me of the scene in Trainspotting where Renton dives into a toilet full of shit to retreive some opium suppositories. There are some good things buried in there, but you;ve really got to ask yourself whether it's work digging through all that crap to get at them.
Rating: 3/10
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