Movie Week - World War Z

via rsvlts.com

I remember reading stories about how World War Z was doomed.  It was over-budget and had to do extensive reshoots.  Those are never good things and the film sounded like a mess.

Still, it ended up being successful enough to have a sequel announced.  World War Z was a hit, despite all of the things that apparently went wrong behind the scenes. 

I was kind of looking forward to watching it. 

I say “kind of” because I’m not really a horror or zombie fan.  28 Days Later was a good flick with zombies, but beyond that, it’s not really my thing.   So the notion of an entire film being about fighting zombies wasn’t the most appealing of notions. 

But it really wasn’t a bad movie.  It really wasn’t about killing the zombies or about surviving, but there was a mission to accomplish.  I really dug the problem-solving element of film.  That Gerry has to try to figure things out on a micro and macro scale.  That appealed to me. 

The set pieces and action sequences were all pretty strong.  I dug the whole apartment building sequence as well as the WHO sequence.   The bike-riding scene was dope too. 

The supporting actors in this film really played their parts well.  Mireille Enos doesn’t have a ton to do as Karin Lane, but she’s also not saddled with being the damsel in distress, at least for most of the film.  David Morse looked like was having fun as the former CIA operative.  Meanwhile James Badge Dale is always a welcome addition to any cast. 

I dug the resolution of the zombie plague, by making people sick and thus unattractive to zombies.  It’s a smart take on the genre and one that gives a decent amount of closure to a movie.  I liked that we got a hint of how the situation was being handled. 

Speaking of those glimpses, I felt that the they all looked pretty realistic, especially the soccer stadium one.  And the zombies building outside the wall in Israel seemed equally plausible and looked just as good. 

World War Z is a movie that I didn’t hate despite it having many of the trappings of films that I tend to ignore.