REEL NEWS -
| 2013-08-02Watch ‘World War Z’
Martha Mukaiwa
When you tell me Brad Pitt is going to be in a zombie film based on a novel by Mel Brooks’ son you can bet that I’ll be in the front row updating my status saying the very thing while devastating a box of Whispers.
What I’ll be lacking, however, is the warm body in the seat next to me to take the scare off all the deceased ones hurrying across the screen instead of dragging themselves towards some damsel only sort of in distress the way a good zombie should.
With the sprinting dead replacing the slow, sedated creatures we have come to know and see summarily defeated in zombie films which are often as lame as their characters’ extremities, ‘World War Z’ (2013) speeds them up and makes them a global threat in a zombie pandemic that all but engulfs the entire planet.
Though, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing an A-lister like Brad Pitt would be caught, um, dead in, his portrayal as a UN employee turned househusband turned back into a UN employee is a solid one somewhat silently buoyed by newcomer and right hand woman, Daniella Kertesz, who plays an Israeli soldier named Segen.
Not wasting much time on the how and the why, the film pretty much opens on zombies running rampant through Lane’s home of Philadelphia. Deftly able to secure his family, he is soon invited back to the UN and is charged with finding ground zero and a way to defeat the man-eating menace.
What ensues is a trip around the world in which Lane finds more clues and it is in places or reference to places like Jerusalem and India where viewers may feel a significant thinning of the source material which seems to leave epic ideas somewhat twisting in the wind.
Still, it’s solid entertainment full of the frights we have come to expect from zombie films but with a logical and dialed down horror that will engage fans of the genre while still managing to coax in those just there to see Brad Pitt.
Watch out for South African star Fana Mokoena who played Dr. Mandla Sithole in ‘Generations’ in his starring role as UN Deputy Secretary-General, Thierry Umutoni. And now, a warning: do not sit in a row by yourself then be the last one to leave the theatre after the credits. You will be afraid. You will also have to stifle a scream when you bump into the theatre cleaners just as you open the cinema door. This film review is based on a true story.
– marth_vader on Twitter or martha@namibian.com.na
With the sprinting dead replacing the slow, sedated creatures we have come to know and see summarily defeated in zombie films which are often as lame as their characters’ extremities, ‘World War Z’ (2013) speeds them up and makes them a global threat in a zombie pandemic that all but engulfs the entire planet.
Though, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing an A-lister like Brad Pitt would be caught, um, dead in, his portrayal as a UN employee turned househusband turned back into a UN employee is a solid one somewhat silently buoyed by newcomer and right hand woman, Daniella Kertesz, who plays an Israeli soldier named Segen.
Not wasting much time on the how and the why, the film pretty much opens on zombies running rampant through Lane’s home of Philadelphia. Deftly able to secure his family, he is soon invited back to the UN and is charged with finding ground zero and a way to defeat the man-eating menace.
What ensues is a trip around the world in which Lane finds more clues and it is in places or reference to places like Jerusalem and India where viewers may feel a significant thinning of the source material which seems to leave epic ideas somewhat twisting in the wind.
Still, it’s solid entertainment full of the frights we have come to expect from zombie films but with a logical and dialed down horror that will engage fans of the genre while still managing to coax in those just there to see Brad Pitt.
Watch out for South African star Fana Mokoena who played Dr. Mandla Sithole in ‘Generations’ in his starring role as UN Deputy Secretary-General, Thierry Umutoni. And now, a warning: do not sit in a row by yourself then be the last one to leave the theatre after the credits. You will be afraid. You will also have to stifle a scream when you bump into the theatre cleaners just as you open the cinema door. This film review is based on a true story.
– marth_vader on Twitter or martha@namibian.com.na
