Movie Review - World War Z

World War Z ***½ (PG-13) These days you just can’t assume too much about a movie when you hear the subject is zombies. The range of that premise now extends from low-budget schlock to high-octane gorefests, to spoof comedies like Shaun of the Dead to more thoughtful, almost restrained fare like this one. Hollywood decided it’s Brad Pitt’s turn to save the world - this time from a sudden epidemic of undead legions who turn within 10 seconds of being bitten, and swarm to the next victim/convert. They’re mindless, but agile, swift and highly focused.

Pitt’s a former field investigator for the U.N. forced back into action to find Patient Zero, hoping for a key to curing or containing the menace. The film contains plenty of stunning visuals, long on computer graphics that work particularly well on 3-D screens. The faint of heart should not be deterred from following Pitt into this fray. The sub-R rating is legit. We see surprisingly little blood and innards, compared to norms for the genre.

WW Z is much more akin to the doctors vs. epidemic branch of the film industry, making it more medical than monsterly, or cerebral than cadaveral, or food for our brains more than brains for their food. (Sorry. I’m done with those for now.) In this case, becoming a zombie is the main presenting symptom of the disease. The script is above average for both the "science" and suspense elements. Director Marc Forster runs the proceedings at a fine pace, balancing the action with character development quite deftly. It’s not a great movie, but it’s a nice elevation for the zombie section of one’s data base. (6/21/13)