World War Z Review

Good cast, interesting story, and exhilarating effects fuel this effective zombie-flick far superior than any other zombie movie of the last decade.

There have been so many zombie movies in the past 40 years. George Romero directed the original Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead and started this zombie genre, and those two films were undeniably the best of this genre. Since then, we were given good Zombie movies such as 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (2004), and that's about it. The Zombie movie franchise is filled more of abominable films than good ones. The last real good zombie film was 9 years ago and that was the Dawn of the Dead remake. Since then, we were given horrible films like the Day of the Dead remake, The Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, and Diary of the Dead to name a few. So hearing a zombie movie was being made starring Brad Pitt and having a budget of almost $200,000,000, I was extremely excited. World War Z does not disappoint. The biggest negative thing in this movie was the neglect to go along with the source material. The World War Z book was absolutely phenomenal, yet the movie's plot was nothing like the book. That being said, the plot was still interesting enough to keep my attention. The movie starts off as most zombie movies do, it shows retired UN employee Gerry Lane and his family living in ignorant bliss until the zombie poop hits the fan, so to speak. The outbreak scene in the film is probably one of my favorite I've ever seen. I can really 

compare it to the outbreak scene of the Dawn of the Dead remake in that it starts off nice and friendly, then the environment slowly becomes more ominous, and then the intensity begins- and once it begins, it does not stop. Once the family is safe, the real plot kicks in. Gerry Lane now has to travel the world to try to find a cure to this zombie epidemic. The greatest thing about this film is the scope and scale. In even great zombie movies like the original Night and Dawn, the tone is very closed-in and claustrophobic. The plot of zombie films usually center around a group of survivors trying to find shelter and wait this thing out. The great thing about this movie is that the tone seems more expanded which makes it more exciting. It makes it a lot less scary, but makes it seem a lot more exhilarating. The special effects in this movie is another great thing in this film. Watching the trailers, I got worried that World War Z was going to seem like a Michael Bay zombie movie. The effects didn't seem that realistic in the trailers, and it seemed extremely unnecessary to the plot. Luckily, the effects in the movie seemed more improved than it did in the trailers. There is scene in the movie in which zombies attempt to  get over a tall wall by climbing on top of each other aggressively. In the trailers, it seemed incredibly fake. However, in the 

actual movie it seemed a lot better than it did in the trailers, it was actually pretty horrifying. Overall, World War Z had pretty good effects, good pacing, Brad Pitt did a solid job as a concerned father in the zombie apocalypse, and the tone was unlike any other zombie movie- making World War Z one of the best zombie movies of the last decade. 
Overall Rating- B+