World War Z (Marc Forster, 2013) - 4 stars

World War Z is Marc Forster’s loose adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel of the same name, one of the few remaining similarities between the source and the film. It stars Brad Pitt, who also produces, as Gerry Lane- a UN agent and a family man, given the task of answering the question ‘why?’ when a virus outbreak leads to a global zombie epidemic. Forster’s background in both human dramas and action thrillers has been utilized here to create a large-scale apocalypse movie with heart and people we care about.

There is nothing new in World War Z. The huge visions of disaster evoke any of Roland Emmerich’s blockbusters from the past 10 years, while the third act looks like it could have been lifted straight from the cutting room floor of 28 Days Later (including a laughably similar soundtrack for this segment). And although it asks a similar question to that of I Am legend, it manages to surpass all of these films. Why? It is free from the constraints of simply being a genre vehicle, whether that may be horror or disaster. Instead, this is an apocalypse with soul, a disaster with more than just CGI to offer. It delivers precisely where most zombie and apocalyptic movies attempt, and fail, to do – in its realism. Often small-scale is mistaken for realism, because it is gritty, at street level, and therefore the huge budget and visual effects team at Forster’s disposal, would tend to be overlooked as glossy and ungrounded. But it is quite the opposite- Forster’s vision is probably far closer to a real zombie apocalypse than any other film has reached before simply because of the scale and the breadth of what we see (we are privy to action and drama in the USA, Israel, South Korea and the UK).

Another reason the film works so well, is that it is given a 15 rating and while in most areas it acts like a film with a 12 certificate, the higher rating comes from the fact that the film opts for consequential violence. A lot of disaster films are enjoyed because destruction happens without consequence- the delight is in seeing a building crumble and not being faced with what this means for the residents or tourists. But this in turn leads to characters and plot we do not care about, disaster that does not matter. So when World War Z adds consequences, the outbreak and destruction means something for the characters and therefore for the audience.

It is disappointing, then, to see the ending of the film not deliver in the same way the rest of it has. I favoured the way it suggests the acts of the film have been more of a delay than a cure, but too many times are narratives wrapped up with media headlines instead of drama. Relying heavily on an emotional score and news report montages, the film displays a potential lack of conviction in the last five minutes.

World War Z takes multiple genres and almost delivers on all fronts. It may not be the Summer blockbuster you were expecting, but with the disappointments of The Great Gatsby and Man Of Steel, my advice would be to enjoy this one while you can. 

Man Of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013) - 2 stars

After the mess that was Superman Returns, the film-watching world has been skeptical about a Superman reboot. But this being Hollywood in the 21^st Century, it was obviously just a matter of time before Warner Bros and DC brought him back. Starring Henry Cavill, who lost out to Brandon Routh for the role in the previous installment, Man Of Steel chronicles the birth of Kal-El, his childhood as Clark Kent and his early days as Superman, attempting to stop the rebellion of General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his plan to exterminate humans in order for kryptonians to survive on Earth. Director Zack Snyder has opted to make a darker telling of the superhero’s origin story, as made critically and commercially popular by Christopher Nolan (who also produces and co-writes Man Of Steel) in his Dark Knight trilogy.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a more embarrassingly or shamelessly patriotic film since Armageddon. And unluckily for Man Of Steel, the Michael Bay comparisons do not end there. Half of the film is made up of scenes inside governmental and military bases, needlessly bombarding us with line after line of exposition and jargon, and not since the latter stages of the Transformers franchise, have I actually been bored by action sequences.

A big part of the problem is that the film is tonally awry. While it force-feeds us the plot, it is coy about mentioning ‘Superman’ and ‘Metropolis’ and while, for the most part, Snyder tries to copy Nolan’s take on the superhero film, the odd joke and sarcastic comment make it feel more like a Marvel picture. But these jokes are so few, that when they do happen, they fall on their face, harder than a human at the mercy of General Zod.

I struggle to work out how much input Zack Snyder had with this film. With Nolan’s Dark Knight co-creator David S. Goyer writing, and Hans Zimmer scoring with what could easily be a Dark Knight B-side, this is certainly not a harsh question to ask. It is well known that while making both 300 and Watchmen, Snyder used the graphic novels not just as a basis for creation, but as storyboards for plagiarising, and while Man Of Steel is obviously based upon characters from DC comics, it is not a page for page adaptation of any specific one. I therefore fear Snyder may have got lost with the lack of restraints, or with being faced with his own decisions to make, and therefore simply relied on others to help him through.

The Nolan input is clear. The Bay comparisons have been made. And the extent to which the film uses anamorphic lens flare and air-born crash zooms almost grants a Creative Consultant credit for JJ Abrams. Simply put, Snyder does not know what he is doing. If this was trying to do what Batman Begins did so well, it has failed. This is most certainly not Superman Starts. Which leaves both DC and Warner Bros. in a very uncompromising position. With Nolan’s Batman trilogy over, and with films like Man Of Steel and The Green Lantern to fill it’s boots and bridge the gap until the impending Justice League movie, they are going to have to make on hell of a Wonder Woman film to keep this sinking ship afloat.