directed by Marc Forster
We’ve all heard the horror stories
of stymied production, re-writes, re-shoots, road blocks and other nondescript
calamities that nearly derailed the Marc Forster directed genre film about a
zombie apocalypse, and, for most of us, these stories melded into a kind of
cautionary tale warning us against seeing what surely would be prove to be
utter shite. And it was thusly that I sat down in the auditorium (telling
myself that I could find worse ways to waste 2 hours of my evening) to get a
load of Brad Pitt’s crack at a big budget action movie (in his own way). While the
film has its problems, most notably the abrupt and almost propaganda-esque denouement,
I have to say it wasn’t a total loss for me. While I didn’t find the zombie
spin particularly novel (except perhaps in terms of sheer scale, plotwise), I
did find it refreshing to see a zombie film that didn’t necessarily revolve around
a group of captives (in a house, or building, or mall, etc) attempting to
survive a gore-glutted night. Instead, WWZ opts for the opposite approach as it
follows Brad Pitt’s character across the globe in search of clues and,
hopefully, a cure. Not to give the film too much credit, but I have been catching
myself comparing WWZ to 28 Days Later... and Children of Men (to which I will say “You’re
welcome, WWZ.”) in terms of tone and depiction of said outbreak, which is to
say that it isn’t preoccupied with blood and guts (though the intensity is
palpable at times) to sell the story. All involved give credible performances,
particularly Mireille Enos (who is excellent as Pitt’s solid wife), and the
film’s serious tone bears the weight of the story without tipping too much into
the realm of incredulity. Zombie fans, give it a shot. Everyone else? What the
hell, give it a shot, too. As one who has been down the road already I can
assure you: there ARE worse ways to waste 2 hours.
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