World War Z

World War Z was not supposed to do well. In it's formative stages it went from excitable expectation, to purported on set conflict, third act rewrites, $20 million reshoots, and a six month delay. In every critical mind it was a bomb, destined to be sidelined with the great follies of blockbuster cinema.

But the people spoke.

To the tune of $540 million worldwide. People liked it. A lot. And thats because there's a lot to like. 

I've seen World War Z a few times now, and it stands up to repeat viewings. And honestly the long arduous production process (which wasn't as arduous as it's been made out to be, according to director Marc Forster) can be seen all the way through the film, but not with necessarily detrimental effects. Any number of sequels, prequels, threequels and parallelquals are prepped and produced with very specific release dates already set and zero flexibility and it usually manifests in sub-par results, but the extra time taken to get WWZ made right and the extra investment from the studio shows guts, determination and faith in the product they were investing in.

So here's how it goes. A man and his family have breakfast, get in their car and go off somewhere. While stuck in traffic, a few strange cases of road rage end with thousands of sprinting undead tearing into all and sundry. And it all happens in about as much time as it takes to say it. It takes serious kahunas to just get straight to the point, and it really sets the tone. Nothing is explained, the exposition at breakfast only letting us know Brad Pitt's Gerry Lane is "retired" and doesn't like making pancakes. As the Lane family attempt to escape the city we see looters, riots, survivalists and more all running and gunning as far away as possible from the super speedy zekes, culminating in a breathless red flare lit stairwell chase as they rise like deep sea divers to get their heads above the rising tide. This is all the setup that's needed, no lengthy dialogue exchanges, just small moments from Gerry where his expertise and history is demonstrated and discovered visually rather than discussed verbally.

Dialogue is appropriate, nothing forced, just quick familial conversations. Some of it is even too quiet to hear distinctly. His interactions with his family are human, in what he says to them but also what he doesn't (his wife's suggestions to take his 'work talk' elsewhere for example is a small but more normal moment.) Having said that dialogue isn't really the point of WWZ now is it. It's all about the rush, the panic and the fear. Zombies have been used as metaphors for many themes in film, and while the specifics may be diluted here the sheer volume and velocity of the spread of the virulent strain is emphatic to say the least, emblematic of any theme such as hatred, greed, nature or death. As Gerry globe-trotts his way following whatever breadcrumbs he can to find patient zero, nations come together, races embrace and religions walk side by side showing that in the face of cataclysmic danger there are no borders or boundaries. In reality it only serves to show that the one thing that doesn't have boundaries is danger itself, as it tears through crowds with no respect for person or privilege or position.

And so the virus rips through country after country, seemingly following Gerry around like, well, a virus, and the high octane crazy keeps on coming. And as if to prove how futile resistance actually is almost everyone Gerry meets end up as pure zombie fodder. Great pains are taken to show Elyes Gabel's virologist as the possible saviour of humanity, the man with a plan, a cure maybe, and his expiration is hilarious and swift, he being one of many characters introduced and promptly dispatched. One wonders what the original cut (minus the third act switch) had planned for these peripheral characters. Certainly Matthew Fox's ten seconds of screen time would have been expanded on. Not that he's necessarily missed, for as mentioned while any number of changes to the film are obvious they're not unwelcome or disrupting.

Which leads us to the final third. After an hour and a quarter of relentless running and fighting and paranoia all of a sudden the film completely switches gear. And I mean completely. It's almost like a different film, which isn't a bad thing. It's reminiscent of the early zombie movies or Romero, and early video games like Resident Evil, and is a bold and striking move. Yet it feels like a completely natural transition and leads to probably the most tense sequence of the entire film, and credit is due to the incoming writers and the producers for taking that step and being willing to let go of what must have been multi-million dollars worth of original footage. Ultimately it's allowed to be a more personal and human finish than a big bang smash n grab would've been and all told it's a welcome shift in what was already a surprising movie. 

So here's to more delays, more rewrites and more reshoots. 

It's what the people want.