Official Synopsis
The film follows a former United Nations investigator (Pitt) as he helps stop the chaotic pandemic that has gripped populations around the world.
I love Paramount descriptions, as they are simple and to the point. That pretty much mimics how World War Z runs onscreen; simple and to the point. The film starts out by quickly establishing Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) as a retired military specialist of some sort through a series of simple dialogue from with his children. Happy to be at home with his wife Karin (Mareille Enos), living a somewhat normal life, he has no cares in the world…until a ‘living dead’ pandemic grips the city of Philadelphia, which they happen to reside in at the moment of crisis (to the point part of this). Struggling to find a way out, Gerry gets a call from his former military associate Thierry (Fana Mokoena), who is struggling to find answers on what’s going on, as the same thing is happening everywhere around the world. Gerry arranges a getaway helicopter with his friend and sets up a rescue that will keep him out of the hot zone, while they try to figure out how the hot zone began. Transported quickly to an aircraft carrier, Gerry is forced to to either help the military find the cause of the pandemic, or risk getting his family thrown back to the wolves.
Obvious choice.
As the film truly begins the beef of its story at this point, the chaotic worldwide atmosphere is portrayed beautifully through the Marc Foster’s vision of a soon-to-be doomed future. Foster and the cast don’t hold back any punches when it comes to the feeling of absolute hopelessness, as the ‘zombies’ relentlessly keep attacking and spreading their disease in a matter of minutes. You get different scenarios in the film where zombies are trying to be held at bay, but nothing seems to work. The final straw is the scenes in Israel, where a giant wall can’t even contain the hordes of the undead. But you’re not worried about the attacks, as much as you’re worried about the disease spreading, which is very different from other zombie films. Unlike other zombie films that focus completely on the zombies themselves, WWZ chooses to focus on the cause of the pandemic. It doesn’t shy away from the fact that there are certain clues during the film that tip off how the zombies react and what they’re reacting to, and that keeps the movie fresh and interesting throughout. It’s less of a horror film and more of a deadly mystery (like the deadliest of mysteries, haha). WWZ never loses sight of what it’s trying to accomplish, which makes it unique from other zombie films. You’re there with Pitt’s Gerry wanting a resolution to come to light somewhere along the chaotic way. Nowhere in the film are you wondering ‘who is the next one to die’, rather you’re trying to find out how they’re going to find the cure of this disease.
It’s a cool take on a zombie flick, and one that breathes a little life into a very tired motif.
Without giving away too much, the only disappointing part of the film is the end. It feels unfinished. It does leave the door wide open for another film, but having some sort of solid resolution is what is missing, and it’s what I wanted more than anything. You want more and you want Gerry to wrap it all up in some way, but it never reaches that point.
With that said, does that particular complaint make this film a disaster? Lord, no. You will love the new take on the zombie cliché. It’s fresh, fun and definitely scary at times. More tense than scary, though.
Anyway, if you want something fun, fast and intense then you need to try World War Z out. It’s better than expected and a new take on the tired zombie motif.
As for the Blu-ray, it’s really quite good. You get a lot of sharp colors, mainly with the blue, red and yellow tints, which seem to be a common theme throughout the film. The most gorgeous part of the film is towards the end scene when Gerry finds himself in a World Health Organization lab. There are lots of blacks/whites that really shine through the HD upgrade quite well. You will find little to no graininess on this Blu-ray, as well as absolutely zero color banding. It’s a very good HD transfer to say the very least.
In the audio category, World War Z comes to you in 7.1 DTS-HD, so you audiophiles will be grinning from ear to ear. This type of film, especially with sound being a major factor in the story, gets better with improved sound quality. In other words, your ears will be in for a treat.
As for the 3D portion of this Blu-ray, it’s actually quite good, but not the best I’ve seen. For the most part, you get some great depth during the non-action scenes, which look good, but nothing as spectacular as an Avengers or even Thor (or even Frankenweenie — yep, I went there). It’s clearly 3D with a good amount of division between the foreground and background, but again it’s nothing visually groundbreaking, and sometimes it doesn’t feel necessary. Having said that, the good 3D doesn’t hit until the action starts, especially when Gerry and family are being chased up to the top of the building in New Jersey in the first act of the film. There will be a few times where zombies will come at you and you’ll be guaranteed to visibly move your butts out of the way. I watched my wife do it, after I did it of course. The 3D is well placed in this movie, as it does add another layer of visual intensity that will definitely help you break a sweat. There are movies that 3D doesn’t deserve to be in, but WWZ isn’t one of them.
Finally, as for features, here’s what you should expect on this Blu-ray 3D set:
– Unrated version of the film
Featurettes include:
– Origins
– Looking to Science
– WWZ: Production
o Outbreak
o The Journey Begins
o Behind The Wall
o Camouflage
You get to learn a lot about the production through these featurettes. I’m particularly impressed with how everyone seemed to be really passionate about the story and the production as a whole. You get to see a lot of insight from cast/crew and peak into some good featurettes that really add a bit more depth to the overall Blu-ray 3D package. There was a lot of thought put into this film, and it certainly shows in these features.
The only thing that I wish had been included is some commentary. I would have loved to hear a bit more about the film from Foster and Pitt. Overall, a solid set of features that will make movie goers happy.