Movie Review of World War Z (2013)

Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a retired front-line investigator for the United Nations.

He used to be one of the top operatives to be dropped into war-torn areas, in order to rescue people or discover the truth about what's happening there. Now he's more at home - literally - cooking breakfast for his young daughters.

Then a fast moving contagion takes over the world. Anyone infected dies horrifically within seconds, then is swiftly transformed into a mindless, violent zombie intent only upon infecting all around them. Only Gerry's hard-learned skills will extract his family from immediate danger; only his connections at the highest level will see them air-lifted to safety.

But resources are limited. Gerry's left with a stark choice - resume his dangerous role as an investigator or take his family to a refugee camp. The latter is publicly deemed a safe haven, but Gerry knows that it can't ever be fully protected. It's only a matter of time before the zombies find and over-run it.

Thus Gerry is thrust on a global quest for answers, as to the source of the undead infestation and ultimately its solution.

The thing that really took me by surprise about World War Z was its global scope. I'm used to zombie movies taking place in a single city, or - at best - a solitary country.

We hear that the infestation is world-wide solely because television clips tell us so. And the footage is generally swamped in international landmarks to highlight the global nature.

But not with World War Z. Gerry spends a great deal of the movie boarding planes to travel to another country. We see what's going on there, and it isn't always in the capital cities. There was something utterly thrilling about this, particularly because you didn't know where he would end up next.

It's all well and good zombie infestations occurring miles away, in another country or the capital of your own nation. But when there's a strong possibility that Gerry could land in your back-yard, the perceived safety of distance has gone. You could be next.  The zombies could be here!

By all accounts, the international reach of World War Z could have been even greater. Scenes were shot depicting Russia, but cut after unfavorable feedback from test audiences. A plot-line involving China was changed, when Chinese censors indicated that it would cause the movie to not be shown in their country.

I just loved how, through sheer location alone, I couldn't predict exactly what was going to happen next. The broader story maybe, but not the next scene. It's rare that a zombie movie - so entrenched in its own norms - can do that.  This one certainly took me by surprise to the point where I once had a double-take. Had I really heard THAT destination correctly?  Oh... dear...

There are plenty of named female characters in World War Z, including a top scientist and a soldier.

However the Bechdel Test - which sets a low bar in measuring the role of women in movies - requires that they also converse.

The pass occurs within Gerry's family. While he's gallivanting around the world fighting zombies, Karin Lane is left with their two young daughters, Rachel and Constance.  Early on, the girls are being entertained in traffic with a guessing game. Their mother speaks to them. They speak with each other. World War Z immediately passes the Bechdel Test.

Later on, Rachel had an asthma attack and Karin talks her through it. Another pass. Karin and Rachel also had a conversation about the fact that Karin is British (her husband and daughters are American).

I'm fairly certain that mother and daughters also discussed provisions, while they were grabbing supplies in a supermarket.

There's a final, slightly tenuous pass, insofar as Karin had a conversation with Tomas's mother. Unfortunately, she wasn't named as a character beyond that. Plus she spoke no English in the movie, so Tomas had to translate each word spoken between the two ladies.