'World War Z' quickly reaches zombie overload

( PG-13 ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'World War Z' is the next zombie movie when there have already been far too many.

|
Jaap Buitendijk/Paramount Pictures/AP
'World War Z' stars Brad Pitt (center).

What would popular entertainment be these days without zombies? The latest, and biggest, zombie-festation is “World War Z,” starring Brad Pitt as a former United Nations investigator of global “hot zones.” The action kicks in early as Pitt’s Gerry and his family are caught in urban gridlock that quickly morphs into zombielock.

Pitt has fought to make this movie for more than six years, and presumably his passion has as much to do with zombies as metaphors for eco-disaster. (Some kind of viral infection apparently started the whole mess, wouldn’t you know). 

Trouble is, when you see a zombie rapidly advancing on you – and in this movie, they travel in hordes – it’s no time to be thinking metaphorically. 

Director Marc Forster is very good at amping up the terror, but after a while, we reach zombie overload and we might as well be watching an infestation of Transformers. Pitt conducts himself manfully throughout the proceedings – he is never less than believable while facing off against this pandemic – but if I never see another zombie in the movies, I will not feel deprived. Grade: B- (Rated PG-13 for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'World War Z' quickly reaches zombie overload
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2013/0621/World-War-Z-quickly-reaches-zombie-overload
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe