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World War Z (9/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 116 minutes.

Not for children.

I am not a horror film aficionado. And you don’t expect to see matinee idol Brad Pitt in a horror film with a bunch of zombies running around trying to kill everybody. But that’s what you have here. Actually, it’s not really a horror film. It’s more horror-lite. Oh there are zombies, all right. But, frankly, they aren’t that scary.

What this really is, is an action film. Based on Max Brooks’ novel, what it’s got going for is director Marc Foster. Foster directed the only good performance I’ve ever seen out of Will Ferrell, in 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction, about which I said, “Advertised as a comedy, there are some funny lines. But as the movie progresses it’s got far too much depth to be viewed as a frivolous comedy. If Foster can entice a good performance out of Ferrell, he’s got to be good. He also directed 2008’s Quantum of Solace, one of the few actually good James Bond films without Sean Connery.

There are four writers who received credit, in addition to Brooks. That generally indicates problems with the script, but I thought it held up pretty well, considering what it is.

After some annoying slice of life scenes establishing Gary and Karin Lane (Pitt and Mireille Enos, respectively) as a relatively normal Philadelphia family (Glasgow, Scotland was the location shot as Philadelphia, and Malta was used for Jerusalem), they hop in their car and almost immediately all hell breaks loose, setting forth one of the tensest first 60 minutes of film I’ve seen in a long time. I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t relax. While it does strain credulity, it is extremely well done.

While the budget for this film is estimated at $170 million, most of it must have been spent on the extraordinary special effects and star Brad Pitt, because other than Pitt, there’s really not anybody extraordinarily well-known if you’re not a TV fan. That’s not to say, however, that the cast is not uniformly excellent. Marco Beltrami provides wonderful tension-enhancing music and the visual effects by Scott Farrar are exceptional.

I go into films trying to know as little as possible about the story and plot. That’s what I did here and it was a rewarding film experience. In fact, I’ve already told you more than I should have. So that’s all I’m going to say about this film.

June 17, 2013

 

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