Brain-dead, but fun

I’ve always believed that if the world were to face a zombie apocalypse, I would be able to outrun the undead and save the world no matter how unfit I was.

However, after watching World War Z, I would rather give up on my dream of being a hero and save myself from ending up in stitches by just letting the zombies eat me. The undead in this movie are fast, filthy and extremely frightening.

This is by no means the greatest zombie movie (if you can even call it that) ever made, but it’s the first blockbuster of the summer to leave me with the feeling of having lived through the same action that the characters have.

World War Z has plenty of similarities to my favourite zombie movie, 28 Days Later, however, director Marc Forster proves that sometimes spending crazy amounts of money on a film doesn’t always end in amazing results – sometimes less, is more.

The film cost millions of dollars to make, changed the way zombies move and ridiculed the genre by adding a Terminator-esque hero to the mix to give the uncreative plot a little zest.

Nevertheless, the film was a pleasant surprise and left me on the edge of my seat the whole way through.

I was entertained even though I wish there was more brain-smashing and blood-splattering. I wanted them to slaughter those zombies and blow ’em up, or at least have some face-eating creatures in there to produce more grotesque moments.

Instead, the movie relies heavily on trying to show the audience how the outbreak is different from previous zombie movies. This isn’t necessarily a good thing as the genre is successful for one reason – it’s stupid! Why change that?

The movie starts as fast as the zombies can move. In the first 10 minutes Gerry Lane (Pitt), his wife (Enos) and daughters are stuck in traffic. Just as they’re playing a game of ‘eye spy with my little eye’ the virus breaks loose and monsters start attacking the city.

The Lanes dash through a hoard of creatures, streets of chaos and stores filled with looters preparing for the end-of-the-world.

The audience come to realise that Gerry is a former researcher for the UN but has retired pre-zombie apocalypse. His ex-boss (Fana Mokoena) asks for Gerry’s help and picks the family up via helicopter and drops them at an offshore convey of survivors where a group of scientists, the military and the UN are all working together to find a cure.

From there, Gerry and a crew of ill-fated men begin a long and deadly search around the world for clues about where the virus originated.

The performances throughout are solid. Pitt is a good actor although he tended to be a little over dramatic at times. It isn’t his best performance, but he definitely prevented many scenes from becoming cliché.

As a fan of the TV show The Killing, it was nice to see Enos playing a softer character instead of a hard-headed police officer. Her versatility was on show and although her character didn’t develop much throughout, she portrayed a likeable and concerned mum who could take action when necessary.

Daniella Kertesz, another strong female character, plays a soldier but showed less skill than Enos ... even with more screen-time. She takes the lead alongside Pitt in the third act but fails to create any memorable moments or steal any scene.

All-in-all, the movie was entertaining. Forster leaves all the gory stuff off-camera making this the perfect zombie movie for beginners. As a long-time fan of this genre, I wanted more, but World War Z will have to do for now.

*Showing in Cineco, Seef II, Al Jazeera Cineplex, Saar Cineplex