Wednesday 26 June 2013

World War Z Movie Review




WARNING - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS

I was apprehensive about World War Z based on the trailers. I saw huge swarms of zombies and was expecting a crazy, over-the-top zombie fest. And while the action was high, I’m pleased to say that the plot was a lot more robust than I initially expected. 

We meet our main character - Gerry Lane, played by Brad Pitt, and everything is perfect. We find out that he previously had a stressful job and now he’s retired so he can spend time with his family. Things are clearly going to go to shit very quickly. 


The next thing we see is the entire family stuck in a huge traffic jam. A police bike goes past and takes the wing mirror off the car and everything goes to hell pretty soon afterwards. What follows is a tense twenty minutes of Gerry and his family trying to get the hell out of the city. Gerry has contacts in the government and they eventually escape the chaos to be taken to an air craft carrier. 

This is when we find out that Gerry used to work for the UN and he was one of their best agents. They now need him to go in and help find an antidote to the virus. He’s reluctant at first, but when he’s told that they will turn his family away if he doesn’t, he agrees to go into the field. 

What follows is Gerry travelling from South Korea, to Israel, to Wales, to Nova Scotia. Each stop on the global tour reveals another piece of the puzzle. 


I loved this film’s plot. It was an intelligent, well thought out story that was an engaging and suspenseful. I often see zombie films rely so heavily on the zombies that the plot ends up either neglected or cliche. I’m pleased to say that World War Z was neither. This was the first film that I have seen in the cinema in a long time where I felt it could have gone on for three hours longer and I would have watched it all. 

If I were to make a list of my top three zombie films it would go like this:
1) 28 Days Later
2) World War Z
3) Dawn of the Dead (2004)

8 out of 10.

Michael Robertson
Get Crash by Michael Robertson at - www.michaelrobertson.co.uk

Saturday 1 June 2013

Fast Zombies vs Slow Zombies

28 Days Later vs The Walking Dead, World War Z vs Dawn of the Dead, which do you prefer? While World War Z is yet to be released, I think the trailers give quite a good idea of what to expect from its post-apocalyptic world. At least with regards to how the zombies will behave. 

Firstly, slow zombies. So you have a walking cadaver shuffling along like an old person who has just shit themselves, mumbling 'brains' or some indecipherable groan that expresses a longing for the end of your life. What's scary about that? You walk / run past them, maybe bop them on the head and then go on your way. However, it's the sheer volume of these slow motherfucker's that makes them hard to deal with. To coin a Walking Dead phrase, it's a 'herd' that can be devastating. No matter how slow they are, if you're surrounded, you're fucked. Maybe it's not the zombies that are the treat, maybe it's your own complacency? They're like a rising tide that slowly creeps up on you. Instead of building a boat to sail the hell out of there, you put it off until tomorrow. Before you know it, you're on the roof of your house wishing that you'd built your ark before now. All you have left are roof tiles and no fresh water. Escape is impossible. Your fucked. Movement seems like the best strategy against them. A rolling stone suffers no loss. If you never settle then you can never be trapped. In theory anyway.


Fast zombies. I still have nightmares about 28 Days Later. Not only do you have to have your wits about you, but these fucker's are FAST. It doesn't matter how brave you are, when you have Usain Bolt hungry for your throat, you're fucked. They come in herds, they come in pairs, they come on their own. The fact is, you have to fight and you have to be quicker than they are. You have to be a badass like Selena to survive this apocalypse. I wonder if even Michone would cut it in the 28 Days Later world. World War Z shows another aspect to fast zombies - swarms! I like to think that I have a zombie survival plan, but I think that if I was in that world, I'd see the oncoming infected, curl up into the fetal position, and wait to be eaten.


Fast zombies freak the shit out of me, I think they win out as a story device every time over their slower shuffling cousins. Any thoughts?

Michael Robertson
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