PITT VS ZOMBIES IN WORLD WAR Z

year: 2013 cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, David Morse, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale rating: **

These so called “zombies” make Frankenstein’s Monster seem like Jurassic Park Raptors – within seconds fangs bite flesh and the undead transition occurs, resembling an epileptic seizure in double time.

Thankfully Brad Pitt’s not-so-regular family man Gerry Lane, after being caught in a traffic jam turned zombie attack, can figure things out along the way. He once worked for the government so he has an edge on doomed humanity, all targets for the disease-stricken hyperactive vampire-like creatures.

Much of the action occurs as quickly as the antagonists – not so much the usual modern style shaky cam but with more of a rolling/undulating movement that may cause seasickness, especially in 3D. Yet much of the film has a brooding, mellow Gerry going to various cities, including North Korea and Jerusalem: his mission is to figure out what virus is causing all the bedlam, and, most importantly, if there’s a possible cure.

After a few big battles, one involving a thousand-plus worker-ant “zombies” climbing a giant wall and using their bodies for leverage, followed by a DIE HARD style scrap in a high flying airplane, we’re brought down to earth for a more personal standoff...

Gerry (the only character that means anything) ends up at a scientific research center where he figures out how to possibly save the human race. The idea is creative and finally there’s a more contained and suspenseful urgency – one intrepid man against only a handful of determined zombies. Too bad they act like unfed chickens and are completely laughable even at their most dangerous...

But at least the movie winds down to a situation we can be part of, far exceeding the overlong buildup which felt like watching war unfold on a cable news station.