World War Z

I didn't think there was more left to do with the zombie-film genre, from George Romano's Night of the Living Dead through 28 Days Later to the TV series The Walking Dead. But the genre has some life in it after all, as World War Z, directed by Marc Forster, provides some chills even as it serves as a cautionary tale.

Forster, who has directed films as wildly different as Finding Neverland and Quantum of Solace, has constructed a taut tale of biological horror. For unknown reasons, a virus has broken out worldwide. We see it first in Philadelphia, as a family of four, led by Brad Pitt, are stuck in traffic. Soon everyone is running amok, being chased by people who eager to bite their fellows. Once bitten, it only takes a few seconds for the virus to transfer, turning the victim into another crazed "zombie."

Pitt, it turns out, is a former troubleshooter for the United Nations. He's rescued off a rooftop in Newark by helicopter and taken to an aircraft carrier, along with his wife and daughters. The catch is he has to try to track down the source of the disease in order to create a vaccine. He doesn't want to do it, but they tell him he has to, or he and his family get sent back stateside.

Pitt then travels from Korea to Israel to Wales, following clues to the virus's source and its possible weakness. He notices that the zombies leave some people alone, and puts the pieces together.

This makes for some gripping scenes, and I knew it was effective because when I walked out of the theater I was looking over my shoulder, ready to be attacked. The zombies in this film, unlike the history of the genre, move fast, guided by the virus's instincts to find a host.

The first few scenes had me worried, though. We started with the cliche of the happy family, with the kids jumping into the parents' bed, followed by the obligatory pancake breakfast. When Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, he must have meant that they all share pancake breakfasts, usually cooked by Dad. Then, the scenes in Philadelphia, though they get the film off to a quick start, are shot purposely jumbled, with hand-held cameras. I realize this creates a sense of disorientation to the viewer, but it also was annoying.

This calms down later. A scene in Jerusalem, which has the zombies breaching a large wall, is extremely well done, as is a sequence on a plane, when one zombie manages to get aboard. The climax, set in a research facility in Wales, reminded me of Alien in its hold-your-breath tension.

Based on the ending, we will get more World War Z films, which I'm fine with. I'm also convinced to give up my lonely plea to those who misuse the word zombie, in that these are not zombies by the definition of the word, i.e., the reanimated dead. This is obviously a losing battle.

My grade for World War Z: B