World War Z – A Zombie Movie I Actually Liked

I’m not really a zombie guy and to be honest, fail to understand their enduring popularity.  I don’t watch The Walking Dead or read the comic, I’ve never seen Night of the Living Dead or any of the others, and in general, I just don’t have much desire for anything that even vaguely falls into the “horror” genre.  However, there was something different about World War Z.  Yes, I saw the book but never had much desire to pick it up and read it, so obviously that had little to do with my curiosity about the movie.  It was more the fact that this was a big budget, summer blockbuster-type looking movie…with zombies.  This was a movie with Brad Pitt as the star…about zombies.  This was a movie that was about zombies, but even from the trailer, it didn’t seem to be so much about the zombies, and I was right.  World War Z plays out more like Contagion.  It’s a biological, international thriller where people are racing to figure out what’s infecting people and how to stop it.  It just so happens that this time the contagion turns people into a type of zombie.  That approach gives the film a different feel, and surprisingly enough, made it one I actually enjoyed.

First, one of the things I don’t particularly care for when it comes to horror movies is the gore.  I’m just not interested in seeing that.  World War Z deftly avoids graphic depictions, but it isn’t any less tense or horrifying because of it.  Plus, the zombies don’t look like decayed corpses, yet they’re still plenty scary, perhaps more so for their more regular, human-like look.  The other thing I don’t care for in horror movies is the glorification of the power of supernatural evil.  Again, World War Z is more “scientific” when it comes to zombies.  It’s a biological contagion, so those things made the film more palatable to me.  Then, the added thriller aspect also made it enjoyable.  It wasn’t so much about the scares, although there are a few, but the tense desperate nature of the world’s race to avoid destruction, albeit this time due to a zombie apocalypse.  All of these factors added up to me actually enjoying a movie with zombies in it.

Brad Pitt is pretty much the reason this film happened, or why it’s being taken seriously despite all its production troubles, and he shoulders that burden in fine form.  He plays the part of someone who’s dealing with the unthinkable in a very believable way while at the same time showing a man who is tough and smart of enough to find his way through a dangerous world in order to find answers. You believe he’s a caring family man, but you also believe he’s skilled enough to travel with Navy Seals.  It’s not any easy role to pull off, especially in a movie like this, but he does it, and since a majority of what we see we see through the eyes of his character, it was important for him to be relatable.  The supporting cast does their part and does them fine, but this movie is all about Brad Pitt, and whether it succeeds or fails, it’s really all on him.  I, for one, would say he makes it succeed.

However, it is that “what if this really happened” approach that makes the film so interesting.  For the most part, people react the way you’d think they would react in such a situation, both in the good you see and the horrors they unleash on each other.  Indeed, it’s the segments that highlight the survival of humanity and the collapse of society in the midst of this tragedy that are the best and most interesting parts and often the most tense without a zombie ever being on the screen.  However, when the zombies do show up, it’s their ferocious, almost unthinking manner and their tendency to swarm and in all manners act much less than human that add the horror to the film.

Unfortunately, things start to feel a little unstable towards the end.  Interesting enough, when Pitt and co. gets on board a commercial airplane is about the time the film starts to feel uncertain.  They don’t know how to land, both literally and figuratively.  The ending worked for me for the most part, but it seemed a bit simplistic and nebulous.  I know they want to do a sequel, but some sort of solid conclusion or exposition about why what they do works or how it works or anything other than just “hey, that idea worked” would have been nice.  Do I want to see more stories set in this world the film created?  Yes.  However, I also would have liked a few more answers for all the questions that were introduced.

The film attributes everything that takes place to nothing more than mere evolution and the fact that Mother Nature is actually a “serial killer.”  It’s an interesting idea, but a rather bleak one.  However, should one’s belief in Darwinian evolution be one’s world view, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that Nature would eventually select humanity for extinction and that some form would eventually evolve beyond us, and that wouldn’t necessarily mean a more benevolent version of humanity.  Life is purposeless and random, so why wouldn’t death and extinction be any different?  It’s the right conclusion to draw from the starting supposition, but it’s still a sad one.  I find it interesting that at no point is there any mention of faith or religion in the film.  If there’s one thing we see in humanity, it’s that no matter how dogged a person’s belief evolution, whenever tragedy and calamity strikes, there are a lot more people turning to the God they rejected to find out why, to get answers and to ask for help.  There are no atheists in foxholes, so the saying goes.  I can’t help but wonder if God is left out because only in a world where God is removed from the picture and evolution and nature are the only laws could such a zombie apocalypse be deemed possible.  In a reality where God does exist, even if such a thing could happen, I imagine it would have to take shape in a very different way.

Regardless, I do know this.  Life isn’t meaningless and purposeless, nor is it a random accident.  God created with intent, created you with intent, and has a purpose and meaning for your life, and that extends far beyond just mere survival.

World War Z is not the typical zombie film, and it’s better for that.  Just as The Dark Knight isn’t really a superhero movie, more of a great crime epic that just so happens to have someone who dresses up as a bat in it.  WWZ is more of a biological, action thriller that just so happens to have zombies in it.  In tone, it almost could be a spin-off or pseudo-sequel of I Am Legend.  It’s a tense and entertaining film, that while a bit shaky at the end, was far more enjoyable than I was expecting.  It’s a different kind of zombie film, and that was good, because it ended up by the type of zombie film I turned out to enjoy.  Never would have expected that.

World War Z is rated PG-13, which means a minimum of gore and graphic violence, which is good, but it’s still tense, disturbing, fairly brutal, and at times, rather scary.  It’s a zombie film for those who aren’t fans of horror, but it’s still a zombie film and can be rather creepy.  There were kids sitting next to me when I saw it, but this is definitely not a kids film.

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