World War Z (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

World War Z

For some zombie pathos and hokey pokes, the popular "World War Z" scrambles into the Tropic, making it seem like Halloween in July. The film, based on a critically acclaimed graphic novel by Max Brooks ( son of director Mel Brooks) stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former investigator for the UN. Gerry is stuck in traffic when suddenly there is a potent and inexplicable rabies outbreak.

The violence and cacophony that ensue almost immediately, along with the punches of some jarring terror and the excellent 3D effects (perfectly suited for the interpretation of a graphic novel), make everything very scary. Crazed and wizened people rush at cars with a nightmarish speed. They emit deathly horrible croaking noises and have only one goal: to eat the people contained within. The seizures of the poor souls affected are as frightening as the cannibals themselves, reminding one of the throes of demonic possession.

Gerry somehow manages to flee with his family intact. There is  Karin, his wife, (Mireille Enos) Rachel, (Abigail Hargrove) and Constance (Sterling Jerins). After an anxious search for albuterol, (which I can personally relate to) the Lanes luckily make it to the roof where they are rescued---after a banging and jolting escape---by a military helicopter.

So here we have Brad Pitt against the world and he is grim, smirking and seasoned to a golden brown.

Gerry is driven to find the primary cause of this zombie pandemic if at all possible and this takes him around the world almost in the manner of "The Da Vinci Code". We know that this is his main goal, but the film limits itself a bit, going in the direction of a George A. Romero zombie survival film, albeit very  well done in its visceral emotion and apprehension.

Much debatable fat has been chewed and spat over the fact that the film largely ignores the sociological and economic situations in the personally told and sweeping novel which is given in vignettes, but as long as you view the film and the novel as two separate elements of the undead, you will be sufficiently pleased in popcorn fashion.

There is an excellent tense scene aboard an airplane. Special mention should be given to Daniella Kertesz as the soldier Segan, who is essentially Gerry's sidekick. Kertesz has spirit and meaningful bravado in this role reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver in the "Alien" films. Moreover, she contrasts Brad Pitt well, who, at times, appears bland and mumbling with emotional anemia.

While the zombies are little more than rolling parasites that clack and roar, the effects are arresting with great pouring tides of ambulatory cadavers that try and succeed in building towers of teeth and flesh to consume mankind. Even though the social implications of such a catastrophe are not dealt with there is a fearsome and terrible poetry in such imagery.

The virulent power contained within such episodes, although filled with a good amount of pulp, is that we can almost see this crisis before our eyes as a possibility. Such haunting imagery combined with a last clap of surprise at the end, make "World War Z" a real arm-grabber.

Write Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com