Movie review: World War Z

MOVIE REVIEW: It will stress you out. It will mess you up. But you're still going to love living through every last dismembered bit of World War Z.

Film Brad Pitt

MOVIE REVIEW: It will stress you out. It will mess you up. But you're still going to love living through every last dismembered bit of World War Z.

This globe-trotting, nerve-jolting affair is as (un)dead on the money as a zombie film can get.

The opening credits of WWZ have barely finished rolling off the screen, and Brad Pitt is already up to his neck in zombie chaos.

One minute he's making breakfast for his family. The next, he is trying to extricate the wife and kids from a viral invasion that has swiftly over-run every city in America.

Pitt plays Gerry, a regular guy who used to work for the United Nations as some kind of global Mr Fix-It.

The UN kindly pluck Gerry and his clan from the drooling jaws snapping all around them, and offers them safe haven on the US government's floating HQ in the middle of the Atlantic.

Of course, the rescue comes at a price. A reluctant Gerry is forced to do the bidding of his former employer once more.

To bring an end to the zombie virus, the UN needs to know where and how it started.

Gerry is given a plane and a satellite phone, and told to get on with saving the world. If he doesn't, his family will be kicked off the boat. From this point on, World War Z locks into a rhythm which will keep pulses pounding right through to the final frame.

Gerry journeys from one flesh-rotted flashpoint to the next, looking for clues while also looking for a way back to his loved ones.

Each new destination triggers a devastating new set-piece. Each is different in structure and feel. All are truly frightening.

Let the record show that World War Z does have its flaws. A lot of them, actually. (In real life, the UN would be hard-pressed to sort out a neighbourhood noise complaint.)

Nevertheless, those things the movie gets right far outweighs any occasional wrongs.

The staggering scale of the zombie crisis is covered off with maximum impact. So too are some funkier (and funnier) minor details.

North Korea beats the breakout with a no-bite-no-blight policy, pulling out every tooth of every citizen.

Israel wisely walls up some of its cities to buy some more time. Even a geopolitical minnow like Wales has an answer that the bigger fish could well learn from.

And what of the real stars of the show themselves, the zombies? Well, they are fast. Nothing too remarkable about that. Most zombies these days would put a gap on Usain Bolt over a sprint distance.

Intriguingly, the defining characteristic of the typical WWZ zombie is super-sensitive hearing.

Whereas most of their mouth-breathing brethren in the movies excel when all hell is breaking loose, these undead un-dudes are at their most dangerous when all is still and quiet.

With the film compelled to barrel along at the same bite-neck speed as its zombies, there is little time for character development. Or any other of the usual storytelling niceties, for that matter.

Exactly what apocalypse-avoidance credentials Gerry brings to the table remain unclear throughout World War Z. This is where the sheer presence and under-rated acting smarts of Brad Pitt justifies all those zeroes on the end of his pay cheque.

Who better to maintain a climate-controlled cool in an atmosphere always one degree shy of total meltdown?

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World War Z [M]

Rating: 3.5/5

Director: Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Daniella Kertesz, Matthew Fox, David Morse.

"Fighting the biting with the greatest of disease