World War Z

I never read the novel, World War Z, by Max Brooks. Brad Pitt, however, must be a zombie fan because he bought the movie rights in 2007, which was way before The Walking Dead appeared on AMC television. It took Pitt five years to make the film at a cost of $190 million dollars. The movie has internationally grossed over $540 million. It broke even. It didn’t make a profit. A film supposedly has to make three times its cost to break even, which is divided amongst the studios, the distributors and the theater chains.Now, because I was unable to see the Blu-Ray edition, which was the extended version of the film with a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff on it, I had to settle for the theatrical version on a regular DVD. Surprisingly, considering all the negative reviews, I actually found the movie to be understandable and very entertaining. In fact, I was glued to the television set for the entire length of the film. For me, Brad Pitt is now the king of zombie movies.The film pretty much starts right into the action with Pitt (an ex-United Nations investigator) and his family getting caught in a traffic jam in the city of Philadelphia. The zombie epidemic has already spread from Europe to the United States with blinding-like speed (in fact it only takes twelve seconds for a dead person to change into a killing zombie). Brad’s character, Gerry Lane, calls his friend at the United Nations so he and his family can be air-lifted out of the city. This does happen, but only after being chased by a horde of zombies to a roof top in downtown Philly. The catch, however, is that If Brad wants his family to be protected, he has to do what the military tells him, which is to fly into Russia and try to find a cure for the decease. This is the rest of the movie. Pitt flies to Soviet Union and then to Israel and then to an outpost where the most infamous deceases known to mankind are studied.Is a cure eventually found for the humans still alive? You have to see the movie, but a sequel is already in the works.Let me tell you that these zombies aren’t slow walkers. These handsome fellows can move fast and they take no prisoners. The special effects of the movie are awesome in my opinion as thousands of zombies pile on top of each other to climb over the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Remember, zombies can’t be killed, unless you shoot them in the head.I certainly enjoyed the pacing of the movie. It didn’t really give you time to think, but I liked what Brad Pitt’s character was able to discover and the shootouts with the zombies. A female Israeli commando is bitten in the arm, and Brad cuts the arm off without any hesitation, leaving her alive, but with a stub. Fortunately, this woman is one tough cookie and can shoot with accurately with just one arm.Being a big fan of the early George Romero zombie movies and The Walking Dead television series, I found myself impressed with this film and Brad Pitt’s acting. The whole movie more or less is on his shoulders, and he carries the weight without any problems, displaying his ultimate skills as a truly excellent actor. He makes this movie happen, and you believe in him and his love for his family. Mireille Enos (she stars in the TV series, The Killing) is the perfect actress for his wife in the movie. If Angelina Jolie had been in it, you would have expected her to go after the zombies and kick some real butt. Not so with Mireille. She’s the perfect mother hen who watches out for her children, praying her husband will return alive to protect them.I can’t comment on the extended version of the film on Blu-Ray, or the extras that are on the disc. I do want to see them, but I need to get a Blu-Ray television for that.All in all, I was surprised at how much I loved this movie. I want to watch it again and see if I feel the same way. Other people have told me that I’m crazy; but hey, the movie did make over 500 million at the Box Office, so somebody must have liked it besides me.

I read the book World War Z and found it to be very nice. If I remember correctly, World War Z came from the Zombie Survival Guide which are both written by Max Brooks. If you read the Zombie Survival Guide first, the best part was at the end when Max Brooks explains various times in history when zombie incidents occurred. The stories followed to the letter how one is suppose to survive according to what Max Brooks written in the first segment of the guide. Later Max Brooks released a separate World War Z novel that is based on interview-like stories from various survivors who explain how the war unfolded and how humanity came out on top. The book is written in a way that takes a journalism approach to what unfolded as told by various people who participated in the event. It's so well written that it's very hard to tell if Max Brooks is actually writing about a real event, or if it's fictional.With that in mind, I wasn't sure what to expect with the movie World War Z. The movie concentrates on a single man and his effort to figure out what causes the epidemic and how to shut it down. His reason behind figuring this out is a bit selfish as he wants to protect his family and don't want him and his family losing the protection of staying on a aircraft carrier. His search goes around the world from Korea, to Israel, to Wales, and various other places. The point is this movie attempts to show a worldwide issue with zombies.The movie plays out surprisingly well. I personally found it good. Other zombie movies tend to focus in on gore and a group of survivors who kill off large population of undead. This movie isn't quite so in following that typical formula. It does have its gore moments, but the reaction from people tend to be a bit more realistic. Matter of fact, Brad Pitt's character is extremely vulnerable and he doesn't really even know how to fight them and many times he comes close and he's tries to avoid them as best as possible.The movie has some surprising support characters. When Brad Pitt first arrived to Korea, he met with some Army Rangers and Navy SEALs special forces to guard him. They were quite well done and while watching, it felt intense as they combat the zombies and attempted to get Brad Pitt's character airborne. I felt in some cases too many of the characters bravely gave up their lives. In just a span of five minutes, two special forces operator in Korea just knowingly killed themselves with little reaction or remorse from anyone.My favorite support character would have to been Daniella Kertesz's character who is a Israel security force. I felt they made an excellent pair and felt their relationship to aid each other was very sincere. Not to mention she was the only character that survived being with Brad Pitt the longest to the end.Overall the movie was surprisingly good. The ending was so-so but overall the entire movie had a nice touch and I felt that it didn't fall victim to the typical zombie movies that plague the market today of just blasting away at everything and everyone and somehow surviving in the end after a few of the party member being brutally eaten. The movie doesn't quite follow the book as the book isn't based on any single character but as a whole. I felt the movie sort of followed the book lead in that it provided a lot of different support characters each fighting off their own war against the zombies. Overall the movie is a good spin off of the book and I personally enjoyed it. Highly recommend watching it.