World War Z -- Movie Review

World War Z starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos and Matthew Fox is reviewed by Ben Mankiewicz (host of Turner Classic Movies), Matt Atchity (Editor-in-chief Rottentomatoes.com), Alonso Duralde (TheWrap.com and Linoleum Knife podcast) and Christy Lemire (Movie critic).
See what other critics are saying: www.rottentomat...
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. (C) Paramount
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[@WBFC1995]

It was such a simple concept, if he writes on the sign "Call the phone if it's a bad drug" it could have solved it so much easier without having to risk humanity for it.

[@whenindoubtdo]

Matt is back! Wish he was present for the Man of Steel, Star Trek and Iron Man 3 reviews.

[@hendersoncnc]

they do a good job at reviewing..i was kinda scared to come in here.. 12 min discussing a movie but not giving a spoiler... great job!

[@csjcsj2906]

For more blood and gore, there's always the unrated version.

[@JozieLeePro]

Great discussion. We missed you, Matt. Nice to see you back.

[@BobBelson]

Good review, Thanks for your post guys and gal . Ill check it out over the weekend !

[@reyisawesome]

Actually, i found there were some slight references to the book's story in the movie. Like the scene where they're on the plane and you see a nuke go off? That seems like a reference to the nuclear war between Iran and Pakistan in the book. And there was a scene were they referred to the ocean, so i'm thinking about how some of the first zombies were seen coming out of the ocean

[@TheTaintedWisdom]

Matt Atchity - "That we hadn't necessarily seen in other movies, yes we've seen running zombies before, but the turnaround from bite to outbreak in a person is like 12 seconds." Did he forget about 28 Days Later & then remember it later? People were infected ridiculously fast too.

[@Stablemable2]

WWZ could have been a prequel to "I Am Legend".

[@lightupdarkness]

Will smith's characters Blood was the cure

[@mathiasmajslott9363]

I would actually love a sequal, or another movie in the universe of I Am Legend i dont care what other people say, i think it was a great movie

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

That 12 second bite-to-infected / running zombies thing was essentially the entire theme of 28 Days Later.

[@Wotanraven]

Not only the fast zombies was already done, but unlike what Matt said, "turnaround" from bite to outbreak has also in the same movie the fast zombies were already done : 28 days later. It takes a dozen seconds in those films too for a bitten victim to turn enraged.

[@Pizzahead97]

Do they have a podcast?

[@BobChaos23]

I might have gotten into it if not for the fact that they took the title away from someone who might have made something that even vaguely resembled the book.

[@terrysilvester4720]

'Scary', did we see the same film?!

[@thecopercoper5533]

There are different kinds of scary you know?

[@jackdeath]

Except the director who made the movie insists *28 Days Later* was not a zombie movie, which undercuts your point completely.

[@TheMorrigan2]

The scene I wanted to see was the astronauts stranded on the ISS, looking down on the world, and seeing a massive horde of zombies in the Great Plains.

[@bebomac5]

Wasn't the infection time in 28 Days Later around 20-30 seconds?

[@PhillipHunsberger]

I like how they also brought up 'Alien'. The H.R. Giger inspired aliens and zombies have actually given me nightmares.

[@JohnSmith-mw5md]

Mabel wrong but I think they climbed over the wall In that scene because of the music playing because it is explained that the are attracted to the smallest bit of noise so that loud music pretty much fuked them

[@BrendanBeckett]

This is my kind of movie, but it really didn't do that much for me, especially in the second half - though there was some good moments that I felt genuinely nervous there. Going in I had the impression they would be going all over the world and seeing how different places are handling it, get in depth with the world wide aspect of this thing, but really it was just Philly to a military base, to Israel, to a research station and a sudden and unsatisfying end abruptly landing in Nova Scotia.

[@amaru250]

can we get a link to that comic strip? hilarious!

[@tacojohn9]

I'm pretty sure that for the last 6 movies Ben has reviewed he said that he was really into it at first and then it kind of lost him as it progresses. He even said that about this movie, even though he loved it.

[@WBFC1995]

One thing that bugged me the most was when he had to inject the drug to camouflage himself and they could have communicated through calling the phone outside the room to signal it's a good drug and not life threatening but instead he just looked at the camera and held up some cheesy sign about his family.

[@kitttykat266]

I thought it would have been an interesting, if not a blockbuster, film if they'd focussed on Paul Redekker's mental state during and after the outbreak.

[@sirloona2425]

28 days later is considered to be the first major fiction involving zombies in the 2000s and reinvented the genre by using fast zombies.

[@doritos180]

I loved the earlier parts of the film, especially the scenes in Newark and Philly, I really felt for the characters and the family. I thought the pacing was a little bit off, one minute he's in Korea, next he's in Jerusalem, then he's in Cardiff. The scenes in Jerusalem were amazing though. The film lost me a bit when they miraculously survived the plane crash and I knew Gerry really wasn't going to die and we were going to get a happy ending.

[@andyinoregon]

There's an aspect of this movie no one is talking about: the total absence of bona fide movie stars except for Brad Pitt. He must have consumed 90% of the casting budget for this film, because most movie goers couldn't put a face to the name of the remaining actors listed in the closing credits. I first noticed this trend in Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" where the only other A-lister was Robert Duvall in a supporting role and again in "Oblivion" where it was just Tom and Morgan Freeman.

[@helpmeImpoor5314]

I love Ben's perspective. I felt many of the same things

[@commissarkitty3553]

The doctor zombi clicking that clicks his teeth should get an Oscar.

[@hezekiahramirez6965]

Horror movies can absolutely be great character movies. An American Werewolf in London, Rosemary's Baby, Dracula, Alien, and the original Fright Night are all great examples.

[@nrmnthompson]

it is an action film with zombies, rather than a true zombie film. it basically spat on the faces of the book's fans. but as something separate from the book, i'll watch it if there is nothing else on.

[@roylong1316]

Yeah. I was disappointed with it. The book has an entire world, the zombies, vehicles, monsters, lmoa's, and great stories, but instead of taking one of those stories, they do this...bullshit...

[@iv54]

when are you talking about. roger ebert fired him?

[@Gavin48]

Glad to have Matt back. He talks the most sense & is very underrated in my opinion

[@yourmanzach2307]

WHAT ABOUT I AM LEGEND?! they said there aren't any other pg13 movies that felt rated R,

[@gnewt75]

Glad to see the whole gang back together reviewing!!

[@Demarcoa]

I think it also has to do with the fact that you can get a refund withing the first 30 minutes so they don't want people walking out if they can't make ticket sales.

[@danfromabove]

The post-arm chop, pre-WHO section was pretty awesome. Plot holes aside, this was better than it had any right to be.

[@Skillionaire9]

He takes the drug initially to get past the first zombie which is blocking the phone. Had he failed, he would have died giving him perfectly good reasons to write the sign. Granted, my issue is with his inability to take out that single zombie, but your point incorrectly attributes his writing the sign in spite of having access to the phone.

[@keitht24]

at 1:45 he says the turn around from bite to zombie is like 12 seconds we've never seen that before WTF is he talking about has he never seen 28 days later

[@brocksamson25]

Did u see it?

[@RoninDave]

haven't seen it and it might be a fun zombie movie but it should not be called after a book that had almost nothing in common with the book. World War Z would be better served as a mockumentary done by HBO then sealed in a time capsule for 3013 and freak future people out into thinking it actually happened

[@Henbot]

I was kinda thinking about it, but I just dont like the subtext the director was going for which was to do with over population. So why havnt seen it, bit dodgy subtext. Also that they dropped the MJS script which was meant to be one of the best zombie scripts ever. I do personally think that length isnt an issue, its just if its boring in that length. As in not much happens, but that only if it a blockbuster. I like slow movies.

[@jaydragon8765]

Ben gave a see it to quantum of solace on at the movies back in 2008

[@seal3081]

It's great to see matt back. We all missed him.

[@Fangtorn]

Name recognition, although anyone who read the books can tell just from the trailers the film has virtually nothing to do with the book. Other then the title the only thing they seemed to have kept is the global scale of the plot. I mean they even changed the zombies from walkers to runners, you can imagine what a massive change that creates in any zombie story. Imagine if AMC had bought the rights to The Walking Dead comic then changed the walkers to runners.

[@gravityvertigo13579]

I don't know the difference between a critic and a critque, but he raised plenty of valid points and he's not the only one. The "real critic" is the guy who runs Rotten Tomatoes, and like he said, about a third of critics felt similarly about the movie's faults.

[@doruabc7056]

Ben is out of his mind! He found this movie tense, while Buried from 2010 bored him?! Come on!!!!!

[@cerickNY]

Running zombies that turn in seconds... kind of exactly what they did in 28 Days Later, actually.

[@Homer92]

What's up with Matt's hair?

[@berryjamful]

maybe it's bc the the scientists that were part of the movement to stop the spread were in the labs, etc and out of the harms way and weren't as exposed to the zombie activity compared to Pitt's character to observe and notice the same things..?

[@kevdav63]

So, they bought the book rights just to use the title? Couldn't they come up with their own title a lot cheaper? There's gotta be some other things from the book ...

[@MrJohnblz]

Thank god Matt is back, someone who actually enjoys movies.

[@omaragatha]

I haven't seen this one yet but since Ben declared he disliked this is the end i'm eager to disagree with him so i think i'll have prejudgment when i finally watch it

[@Xenite227]

I think Hitchcock would argue that one doesn't need blood to make a scary scene. Theirs a big difference between gross and scary and most "horror" movies these days are nothing but shock gore and jump scares.

[@mcjon77]

I was a zombie movie fan before zombie movies were cool, and it is a relief to find out that this is actually a good movie. I was quite prepared for it to suck. I'm definitely going to check this out tomorrow.

[@SFTortoise]

Or how about the part where his calls him at a bad time and effectively killed a few good men?

[@alicetheblackrabbit5872]

I love how WWZ book has POV stories. and I also love how the world slowly falls into pieces.

[@acuralo]

Totally agree with you...which leads to a major plothole. It was stated that planes were the perfect carriers of the virus..which would be impossible due to the short incubation period! Obviously no infected person would make it onto a functioning aircraft and that aircraft would take off! In the book, the incubation period could have been anywhere from 12 to 48 hours depending on the severity of the bite which make the plane hypothesis way more relavent!

[@JozieLeePro]

New on DVD today. We LOVED it. Kept us on the edge of our seats. Action. Adventure. Tension. Scary!

[@ranwolf76]

Shawn of the Dead used it a couple of times

[@MajorAlenko]

YAY Matt's back! Welcome Back!!

[@jeep6242]

PG-13? Ugh Didn't know that. That just took some of the wind out of my sails.

[@GigaBoost]

Very glad to have Matt back!

[@justferkicks1244]

quantum of solace......or skyfall?

[@mike627100]

Alonso-thank you for being the only sane critic this time around by pointing out none of the characters matter. This is mostly due to the lack of character development & lack of humanity in the characters themselves. 1 example of this is the boy who loses his parents in NJ who shows 0 remorse at any point later in the film. Although the grand scale of the pandemic is done well, I walked away feeling this film was meant to cater to the casual movie-goer/gamer. Sgt, "I got this boys"...LAME

[@rudyfgonzalez]

Alright Matt is back, the main reason why I subscribed to WTF. Welcome back Matt Atchity.

[@Ollie9402]

The coolest things were already in the trailer by the way, so don't expect many awesome surprises. And you can hardly tell it's a 3d movie.

[@bigcomcast]

Its like the Zombie infection is a global germ that is attacking a living host "humanity" When you watch a slide of some germ attacking blood cells it happens fast and moves on to the next blood cell leaving a Zombie germ behind.

[@omaragatha]

ABSOLUTELY AGREE!!! Certain people are scared of blood specifically. and they are scared of blood and certain people enjoy seeing it. but fear as an emotion runs much deeper than blood it is directly proportional to the amount of blood in the film... some of the scariest films i've watched weren't bloody at all

[@haggismangjw]

Alonso is right about not being emotionally engaged is a problem. Horror works best when you feel for the main characters, otherwise who cares if their being repeatedly tortured? The book may have been a series of vignettes, but most of them were personal stories. That's what got me hooked on the book. This one is just takes the couple government stories and runs with it. I'll skip this movie and rewatch 28 Days Later.

[@cinoeye]

Loved the book and got dissapointed when heard movie was not based on the book. But this being said, after seeing a move, I need to say it is not bad at all!!!

[@Kurgorath]

I think the people who thought it was boring didn't watch it in a good theater and didn't quite get the right experience.

[@picardout]

I have to agree with the guy in glasses. The movie wasn't bad, but it wasn't even close to how the other three are talking about it. Best scary movie since Alien??? 28 days later?? wtf..

[@thisisnancybot]

Alonso- I also thought Quantum of Solace was okay!

[@laincorepilled]

thats why you only either see the movie or read the book so the movie isnt dissapointing.

[@DimmedDiamond]

Before people start complaining that a franchises zombie doesn't match with another franchises zombies. The ORIGINAL zombies- where the term came from and what the first films were about, were "drugged/hypnotized african slaves" in the caribbean. So no one has a right to complain.

[@SteMail926]

I thought it was pretty awful. The action was cookie cutter and contrived, the main character was a blank slate and made some really dumb decisions, and the logic was extremely flawed. Not sure why it got so praised...

[@whattheflickshow]

Stephen Butchard Thx for the feedback.

[@SteMail926]

***** haha! No hate on you guys though, everyone backs up their opinions well, and I know plenty who would like it despite the complaints. Was just surprised at how much you enjoyed it overall! :)

[@grassygnoll3345]

+Stephen Butchard I never felt Brads character was ever going to get hurt, there was no tension.

[@metryctro3851]

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[@roylong1316]

The movie sucks. In the book, zombies are slow, there is no cure at all, the government uses the wrong methods to deal with it, and eventually, and eventually humans learn how to fight them. If the protagonist needs a story, have him fighting like they do in the end of the book, and eventually he gets lost and has to work his way to civilization. Maxx Brooks, next time someone offers a movie deal, make sure they at least do a half-ass job at it...

[@bebomac5]

Contagion was ok, but I thought it was basically a lesser version of Outbreak.

[@Kewt316]

I honestly loved this movie, and disagree with all the negatives. I feel like they are just so quick to pick apart a film than to actually sit there as apart of the audience and enjoy it.

[@ranwolf76]

I liked the movie more than I expected. but except for a few details it has nothing to do with the book

[@Sleepcharm]

They are right on the money with this one. Alonso is spot on with this movie too.

[@azuleyes2000]

Welcome back, Matt!

[@Belloran24]

I love this show. It took a movie that I had no interest in whatsoever due to first reviews and made it something I'm dying to see this weekend.

[@Evirthewarrior]

If the shoe fits... Arguments on the internet are not about the other party, its about all the other people reading the interaction.

[@JoaqMan]

The film is just okay, which is disappointing because that entire opening is great filmmaking. It's like the Last of Us

[@recklessmb]

It doesn't really make a lot of sense to have a virus travel so quickly with 100% eventual mortality. I get that the quickness makes it scarier. But the point of a virus is to spread and survive. If it spreads that quickly it would die out in a matter of what six months?

[@breadordecide]

Here's a tip: dont drink soda during the movie and pee before it starts.

[@rurounix86]

Welcome back Matt!!

[@stefers08]

Matt and Christy are the reason I subscribed to WTF. But Matt is my favorite.

[@stoneman127]

Appreciate the review. I might consider seeing this one though not a fan of zombie movies in general.

[@ClydeNut]

Ben hated Quantum of Solace? he gave it a thumbs up on At the Movies that year. -_-

[@foorene]

They dint mean by horror movie as scary, they say, they got scary by 12 sec change into zombie and i agree with that, kinda scary for 12 sec

[@plusmin09]

The zombies were much more annoying than scary.

[@themegamariobros1]

I loved but it felt rushed at times especially the scene when he went from father to soldier in a flash.

[@WBFC1995]

Hahaha that was the best, you'd think he would have put his phone on silent especially after he had just figured out they're attracted to sound.

[@jeah84]

true, thats bugged me either!

[@sgreencorn]

Great review! I liked the array of opinions. I enjoyed the movie more than I was expecting. I wrote a review for RT and gave it a 7.8/10.

[@cjwright79]

Alonzo has the most lightweight points to make and yet he's the most emphatic about them. Get the hell out of here.

[@MaMastoast]

So wha? I was reacting to them talking about "horror fans" might not like it due to the lack of gore. That's all