Paramount Pictures
116 min., dir. by Marc Forster, with Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and James Badge Dale

Amidst the rumblings of massive re-shoots and the ire of fans bothered by trailers showing no remnants of the source material they fell in love with, World War Z has been teetering on the edge of failure up to its release. A cross between 28 Days Later and Outbreak, World War Z turns out to be a much better film than I originally expected and manages to stay afloat in a genre that is flooding the market.

Retired from his position as an investigator for the UN, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) has traded in working in the most dangerous locations in the world for a job flipping pancakes for his children. Content watching the world’s problems from the glow of his TV instead of the front line, spending time with his family is all that matters to Gerry now. When a typical morning family drive to school turns into ground zero for Philadelphia’s zombie outbreak, Gerry’s instinctual survival nature kicks in as he swiftly grabs his family and heads for safety. When his old boss calls during the riotous madness, Gerry has no choice but to agree to lend a hand in stopping the spread of this world-ending event, as it’s the only way to make sure his family stays safe. Tasked with finding patient zero in hopes of finding a cure, Gerry sets out on a globe-trotting mission that seems to have no optimistic end in sight.

Many people find it hard to detach themselves from a story they know and love and accept it in a new form. It’s tough to say what devotees of Max Brooks’s novel will think about the big screen adaptation that veers off the rails when it comes to portraying the book’s multiple story lines. I’ve never read the book, but I’ve done my research and have been told enough about it to see what has been done here. If you’re someone who will walk into the movie ready to strictly compare the two mediums, you will probably walk out angry. On the other hand, if you’re willing to let go and take this film as work of its own that shares a few similarities apart from the title — or someone who is completely oblivious to the fact it’s based off a book — World War Z has some good things to offer.

As disorder and chaos descends around Gerry and his family in the opening minutes of the film, I started to realize that I’ve never seen a zombie film (or at least remember one) that took its audience for a ride through an actual outbreak. Beyond having a surprisingly grounded aura amongst the madness, the pure insanity of the situation is thrillingly magnetic. There are zombies speeding through the streets, but the first few sections of the outbreak until the family finds temporary shelter are steeped in the human side of the collapse than simply an undead attack. From what I saw in the film’s trailers, I expected this movie to present its version of the fast zombie attack as mainly those large wide shots of massive piles of CGI mobs tearing their way through streets and buildings. A large amount of World War Z takes place on a much closer, first person level, making for a more enjoyable and tense experience at times.

Like many films out there today, World War Z starts strong, but drags on a little too much for its own good. The first half of the film has some joyfully creative snippets that are expertly well done, both in a visual and non-visual sense. The entire section starting with the family’s attempt to find supplies to their daring escape from an apartment building can be considered flawlessly brilliant. The following events as Gerry sets off with young virologist to Korea as they start their search for a cure are as equally well done to a point. Then the film finds itself turning into a cookie-cutter tale. There’s nothing disturbingly wrong with the contents of the film at that point, but it becomes more predictable and typical when it comes to its scares and script exploitation. By the ending of the film, I found myself with more questions left unanswered then anything else.

Zombie and gore fans be warned: while I’ve seen some PG-13 movies get away with some things that should be R-rated, World War Z is extremely tame in this arena. With the exception of literally one single shot, blood, gore, dismemberment, and the like all happen off-screen. It’s fairly obvious in certain scenes that they were careful to not show the gritty nature of what was really going on, but thinking back on the movie as a whole, I’m still surprised about how many situations occurred where I saw absolutely nothing that would turn the stomach of traditional gore-haters. Technical, I don’t believe that a movie has to portray pools of blood and sinewy muscles being torn apart to be entertaining, but I’m somewhat astonished when I don’t see it in a zombie film.

Like most films, World War Z has its fair amount of odd flaws that make you want to turn to the person next to you immediately to question what you just saw or heard. However, compared to most films out there, World War Z is fairly well put together and entertaining. With the excessive blood and guts missing, it also makes for a zombie film that zombie detractors can see. There are a few jumps and scares, but this is much more about the narrative than trying to scare little children to sleep with the lights on. A little too heavy in trying to push its emotional core, World War Z ends up being a delightful pleasure overall, though I did feel a little weird when it seemed to be pushing a pro-police state agenda for a moment. All in all though, World War Z is a total surprise for this snob, and I’m happy to admit it.

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Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache and a contributor to Den of Geek.