World War Z (2013) (PG-13)

     Every year, the summer offers countless options for moviegoers. The summer blockbuster is one of the biggest money makers across the country. Unfortunately, these films are often pretty awful, and are often indistinguishable from one another. That is what I thought this movie was going to be: another quick cash-in that tries to entice viewers with the now pretty stale gimmick of zombies. However, what I got was the biggest surprise of the year so far, and an extremely decent movie.

Plot

     The movie starts like most zombie flicks: Gerry Lane (a former CIA agent) and his family are going about their daily lives, when all hell breaks loose. Through his connections Gerry gets his family safely on board an aircraft carrier, where he learns that the plague is global and that he needs to come back into service to help the government determine the origin of the disease and a way to stop it. This begins a globe-trotting adventure that spans several countries. The story of this movie focuses much more on the plague aspect of a zombie apocalypse than previous undead thrillers I have seen. The scope of the disaster is evident throughout this movie, and really gives a glimpse of how destructive an event like this would be if it really occurred. Personally, I prefer the smaller, more personal stories of zombie outbreaks, but this was an interesting change of pace and I give the creators props for trying something different. The plot is rather holey, and there are some unintentionally funny moments, but zombie movies have never been the most believable movies around. I myself have not read the book, but from what I've heard, this is not a faithful adaptation of the novel. It is more a movie inspired by the book, or a movie set in the same universe. 

Acting/Writing

     The acting in this movie is by no means spectacular, but there aren't really any poor performances either. Brad Pitt as Gerry is easy to root for as the guy that's just trying to look after his family, despite coming off as a little wooden at times. Mireille Enos plays the part of the worried wife well, although her  character can be annoying occasionally. What is it with female characters in zombie movies messing things up? She seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time at several instances in the film, which comes off as just annoying rather than intense. The rest of the side characters don't really have much script to work with, and are only really there as plot devices. However, this is to be expected with a movie with this broad a scope. The only other characters that stuck with me from the movie are several of the military operatives. They are instantly likeable, and capture the mindset of a soldier in the zombie apocalypse very well. 

Visuals/Audio

     This movie shows zombies in a way that they have never been shown before. Shrieking undead pile on top of one another, climb over one another, even trample each other in a mad frenzy to infect as many people as possible. The launch themselves into a crowd without even a thought for their own well being. Also, these zombies do not eat their victims; rather they bite and move on. This takes away some of the need for an R rating, and removes some of the trademark zombie gore. However, don't think that this movie is tame by any means. This movie pushes the PG-13 envelope in the violence department. One complaint I have with the movie is the large amount of CGI used. For some scenes it is necessary, like for the depictions of large swarms of undead, but I found myself missing the traditional effects and makeup of a typical zombie movie. The creatures lose some scariness when they're completely computer animated. The movie provides many interesting, varied locales for the scenes of the movie; everywhere from Jerusalem to Philadelphia. This helps alleviate the tedium and show the tremendous scope of the disaster.  The soundtrack of this movie is surprisingly good, and provides some intensity and build for the jump scare moments.

Content

     Like I said earlier, this movie pushes the limits of what is allowed in a PG-13 movie on the violence front. Many many people and zombies meet their demise in many gruesome ways. The only reason that this movie was allowed to have a PG-13 rating is that there isn't any blood or gore. Kills are bloodless, but no less disturbing. Language is low for a zombie movie, and is what you would expect from a PG-13 film. There is no sexual content whatsoever. Want a more in-depth content review? Follow the link below!

http://www.pluggedin.com/movies/intheaters/world-war-z.aspx

     In all, this is a very surprising movie to me. I was a bit leery about a PG-13 zombie movie, thinking that it would be a zombie movie "for the masses", and lose some of it's impact. However, while this is certainly a more mainstream flick than say, Dawn of the Dead, it is good in a different way and shows a different side to the nearly exhausted genre. Score:7/10