World War Z is “based” on the book of the same name by Max Brooks, the same way Hamburger Helper can be considered based on the concept of a hamburger. The initial pieces are all there but it’s a hamburger in name only, similar to how World War Z is a zombie movie in name only.
Make no mistake, the staples are all there: zombie speed-walking, “infected” who spread like wildfire to every inch of the earth, a mysterious miracle cure laced in social commentary that tries to portray itself as deeper than it probably really is, and attempts to heighten tension at different times through the use of either: (a) bare corridors with flickering lights, or, (b) scary-fast zombie swarms.
But the trouble with these staples is that we’ve already seen them done so many (better) times before through either hit TV Shows or popular selling video games.
After seeing the same stories told over and over again, what used to be a classic horror vehicle that could be used to tell compelling post-apocalypse stories and deliver social commentary has become just a pale, grey mash of pop culture.
World War Z is just the latest offender, but might as well be the one that (finally) drives the point home; there really is nothing creative being done with zombies anymore. Films are now being sold on the idea that “there are zombies in it” as opposed to being built around a story that uses them creatively.
Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is enlisted to help deflect the situation by the US Government for his UN background of going into hostile areas. In return for guaranteeing his family a safe passage to escape the swell of zombies that have descended on the Northeastern seaboard of the United States, Lane must go with a convoy to South Korea to root out the origin of the zombie virus and devise a cure.
The idea of a globe-trotting Brad Pitt traveling with a group of hardened soldiers to different hell-holes on earth to root out the mysterious “patient zero” and the cure before the remaining human population succumbs to zombies? Sounds like a fresh, zombie adventure movie, not another claustrophobic, bottle film.
But what actually happens is a lot of quick cutting to different places in a short amount of time, with no real attachments to any of the characters or even a real feel for the gravity of the situation. Deaths happen so quickly they’re almost meaningless. Pretty cites are swept up by explosions, mass looting and violence, but the film never lingers on the aftermath long enough to tell a story. In an attempt to try something new, World War Z ends up being just another muscle-bound, summer “thrill ride” that just happens to have zombies.
On the other hand, World War Z is the quintessential, brainless summer blockbuster movie at its finest and most bombastic. For its bloated budget and dozens of rewrites and re-shoots, Z shows its work well. The locations the film takes the audience to are gorgeous. Even the zombies “work” much better than the early trailers for the movie would have you believe.
But ultimately, these great scenery shots and zombies just create a pretty box for a soul-less movie. World War Z has the look of a zombie film, the budget of a summer blockbuster, and the scope of an apocalypse movie with the aspirations of none of the above.
