Movie reviews: World War Z
Richard Linklater’s film opens with Jessie’s son, Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), from a previous marriage, flying home from Greece to the US, which prompts Jessie to ask Celine if she’d move to Chicago so he can be nearer Hank. That prompts angst, as Celine and Jessie’s relationship experiences the equivalent of a mid-life crisis. Delpy and Hawke are co-writers with Linklater on Before Midnight, lending authenticity to the emotional intimacy. Long, lingering takes and plausible ad-lib-like dialogue give depth to the casual confidences and brutalising verbal wounds; it feels as if the audience is eavesdropping on the destruction of a real marriage. Powerful performances from the leads add to the verisimilitude, as does Linklater’s unobtrusive camera-work. The result is an occasionally uncomfortable, always engrossing domestic drama.
In World War Z (15A), former UN investigator, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), is commissioned to discover the site of a viral outbreak that has caused humans to mutate into ravenous zombies. With the world overrun, Gerry crisscrosses the globe, from the US to Korea and on to the Middle East, one step ahead of the wave of inhumanity. Based on the novel by Max Brooks, and directed by Marc Forster, World War Z opens with a visceral scene of zombies overwhelming Philadelphia and rarely relaxes its pace thereafter. This isn’t necessarily good, as the relentless set-pieces that Gerry barely escapes don’t allow for much audience engagement with the characters. Pitt makes the most of the little character development and humanises the terror of the threat he and his family face. Some of the set-pieces, particularly the section in Jerusalem, are vividly depicted and genuinely horrifying. All told, it’s a solid, if unremarkable, take on the traditional zombie flick.
