WORLD WAR Z

My expectations weren’t high for World War Z. All because of the reported troubled production: Clashes between Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster, writers being replaced and significant re-shoots taking place. But luckily the movie, like many people, was able to overcome its tough beginings.

The set up is very fresh. Instead of throwing the audience on a post-apocalyptic world like The Walking Dead, or confining it on a small town being attacked, the story centers on the beginning of -potentially- the end. The transition between normal life and total pandemonium is fast and brutal.

This global catastrophe focuses on Garry Lane (Pitt) and his family, instead of going for a multiple point of view narration like the book it’s based on: ‘World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War’. That is good. Nobody needs a Babel with zombies.

Through them we experience the mayhem and process the necessary information to put this puzzle together. It’s the right balance between the action and the investigation to explain how the pandemic started, what makes it both thrilling and interesting.

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The trailers suggested a focus on CGI-heavy scenes of chaos in plain daylight. But instead, there are plenty of tense sequences in the dark and in claustrophobic spaces. “World War Z” plays those scary moments far better than all adaptations of survival-horror video games. A remarkable achievement for a PG-13, gore-free zombie flick.

Brad Pitt’s character, maybe because of his “Jesus look”, is pretty much asked to be the savior of humankind. At first, he reluctantly accepts, until he is forced to embrace his messianic role when someone dies in the stupidest way possible. One of his special powers seems to be noticing very small things among infernal scenarios. Those turn out to be vital clues for humanity and the movie’s plot.

His other main skill? Being extremely lucky. Like John Cusack surviving the end of the world in 2012. But the whole quest is so entertaining that you can forgive that and other implausible developments. Even the fact that 80% of the time female characters are those responsible for putting everybody in danger.

One casualty of the re-shoots was evidently Mathew Fox (“Lost”, “Alex Cross”). His time on screen is approximately the same that took you to read this line. It is impossible to say if the ending was also a victim of those “adjustments”. But it does feel anti-climatic compared to the rollercoaster leading to that moment.

“This is just the beginning” is one of Pitt’s character last pieces of dialogue. But the landscape painted at the end seems too favorable to one of the sides involved in this conflict to make you go “Oh, my gosh! Who will prevail?”. Infected with expectation for a sequel? No. Would I get a second injection of zombie warfare in great 3D? ¡Zí señor!

World War Z hit theaters June the 21st.