Film of the week

World War Z

With all the trouble there has been in the lead up to the release of this film, you might be worried that you wouldn’t enjoy WWZ. Fortunately it is actually an enjoyable viewing experience – although it is not a film that you will remember for long after you have walked out of the theatre.

Fans of the book which the film is based on may be annoyed by how thoroughly it diverges from the source material. Nonetheless, WWZ is fast-moving and packed with thrills – and there is a commendable performance from Brad Pitt to enjoy to boot.

This is not your typical zombie movie and if you’ve turned up for a horror film with the usual bloodshed and the display of torn flesh normally restricted to a medical student’s anatomy textbook, then this is not the film for you.  The gruesomeness you expect in a typical zombie film redolent with the undead feasting on human flesh is not present: presumably it was watered down so the film could get its PG 3 rating and stand a chance of being this summer’s blockbuster.

WWZ sees Brad Pitt play an ex-UN investigator Gerry Lane who is sent to seek out the source of a Zombie plague that has ravaged the Earth.  Lane is forced to leave his wife Karen (Mireille Enos) and two young daughters aboard a safe haven aircraft carrier somewhere in the Atlantic.

How having had experience with terrorist actions in Chechnya and Africa makes Lane the best person to solve the zombie problem is difficult to comprehend, but apparently he is and he finds himself being sent on a transatlantic mission to find the source of the zombie plague.  He visits Israel, where they are winning the war against the living dead, and finds some clues, but eventually ends up at a top-secret medical research facility in Wales. Wales? Torchwood has a great deal to answer for.

The movie appears to be a combination of various other movies about diseases plaguing humanity, like Contagion. WWZ begins by building suspense and it’s an enjoyable thriller right up to the intimate and intricate climax – with the fast action making it ideal to watch in 3D. Just don’t believe the promises of zombie action contained in some of the marketing or look for a memorable film. Director Marc Forster shouldn’t be planning where to put his Oscar just yet.

•This film is showing at Cineworld Ilford – Clements Road, I-Scene, Ilford – 0871 200 2000.