SYNOPSIS: The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.

REVIEW: I think Brad Pitt has out done himself with this latest “zombie” effort. Before the screening, it was quite difficult to imagine a Brad Pitt character fighting off the catastrophe of zombies taking over the world. However, boy was I in for a pleasant surprise!?! Pitt and Director Marc Forster, et al, delivered above and beyond expectations here. I guess Forster’s Monster’s Ball (2001) and Quantum of Solace (2008) experience has prepared him for this action thriller. Based on World War Z, a 2006 apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks, this Hollywood blockbuster might be a bit late to the zombie party, but it arrives just as everyone has gotten in to the whole bath-salts and zombie craze. This, precisely it seems, is when audiences are most receptive to a well-done Hollywood production as we have here.

One of the strangest things I felt about this flick is that with an actor like Will Smith playing the lead role, this flick could have easily passed as a prequel to I Am Legend, the 2007 post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror flick directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. Along with the concept being very much in line with Smith’s film, it could also be mistaken as a better version of Contagion, the 2011 Steven Soderbergh medical thriller disaster flick. That said, the film stays very conventional in terms of concept, but it moves at breakneck speeds throughout, keeping you on the edge of your seat. This is supported with the 3D affect, which I must say really makes a huge difference in action and horror films and it surely does work here. I thought the cinematography was awesome and simply brilliant.

Overall, this flick is not just about the outbreak of a deadly virus, its origins, its after-effects or the destruction it caused; It’s about the investigation involved to curtail the global crisis and the measures taken to prevent further damage. At some point, you do feel Forster might be biting off more than he can chew, due to the scale and magnitude of the problem at hand; however, he presents the sequences in a manner that can be easily followed and never lets it become too overwhelming for audiences. Apparently, the climax had to be re-shot (for reasons unknown), but one could not tell and it was seamlessly executed, despite the ending falling a bit flat, but not incoherent. Actually in my view, perfect, if one wanted to pickup with a part two similar to Smith’s I am Legend, this would have been a perfect ending.

This is the zombie movie of the year, by far and is well worth shelling out the bucks for a 3D ticket. Pitt and Forster et al, does a magnificent job and I think it deserves five out of five stars, but will give it four and a half instead, for being a bit lacking in the climax.

MORE MOVIE REVIEWS >>>