World War Z

Movie Title--  World War Z

Release Year--  2013 

Running Time--  2 Hour and 2 Minutes

Director--  Marc Foster

Cast--  Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove, Daniella Kertesz, Fana Mokoena, Ruth Negga, Pierfrancesco Favino, Moritz Bleibtreu

Former United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world to find a cure for the zombie pandemic that is toppling governments and threatening to destroy the world.

A world wide Zombie outbreak has exploded across the world, turning countries and governments into mindless creatures in just seconds.  Former United Nation investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is with his wife and two daughters when it begins to happen in Philadelphia and on his escape out of the city his friend and UN Deputy Secretary-General, Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena), calls him asking him to come back to work for the UN in their time of need.  After some consideration, Gerry agrees and they take shelter while waiting for special evacuation.  

Once they are picked up, they are flown to an aircraft carrier that has been reserved for remaining UN agents and their families.  Thierry takes Gerry into the "command center" where he is monitoring the remaining, still operating governments.  Gerry is then coerced into traveling to Camp Humphreys in South Korea by threat of his family being cast off the aircraft carrier if he does not go.  Once he lands in South Korea he learns that a Korean doctor was the first to be infected with the disease after he was bitten by a local villager who he was treating after being captured and brought back to the base.  Gerry then learns that Israel reacted to the outbreak a week before it went worldwide and build a large wall to keep the zombies out and Gerry decides to head there for more answers.  

After a narrow escape out of South Korea, Gerry heads to Jerusalem where he is told that the Israeli government intercepted a message from the Indian army that were fighting the rakshasa (zombies) and convinced other members of government to build a wall around the city.  From there, Gerry heads to Cardiff, Wales to where an operational W.H.O. (World Health Organization) facility is located and still running, in search for a cure to the zombie pandemic.

I wanted to see this film when it first came out in the theater but I never got a chance to, so then once all the hype had worn off, I heard that the film was just awful.  Because of the word of mouth reviews I heard, I put off seeing it for a while but now that I have seen it, I don't understand why people were saying it was not a good film.  I literally was on the edge of my seat for most of the film and maybe it was a combination of the action on the screen and the suspenseful music that was being played but I honestly couldn't wait to see what happened next.  I will say that I have not read the books that the films are based off and perhaps that is why I don't particularity understand why it wasn't as well received as I thought it should have been.

The action starts very quickly in this film.  Unlike most films where you meet the characters and have to wait for about thirty minutes or so for any kind of plot or action to begin, this film jumps right in, in less than ten minutes, which could be another reason I enjoyed it so much.  You don't have to wait for some kind of story line to come into play and you don't have to learn the background of the characters because you can see that the world is coming to an end and something needs to be done in order to survive.

I think Brad Pitt did an excellent job in this film.  Also, for any of you "Doctor Who" fans out there, the newest Doctor Peter Capaldi (the twelfth Doctor), plays a role in this film.  He is one of the doctors in the World Health Organization facility and he is credited as W.H.O. Doctor.  ;)

I would recommend this film to anyone looking to see a zombie flick.  Watch this one and just try not to sit on the edge of your seat.  Don't Forget the Popcorn!