World War Z (6/21/2013)

Rated PG-13 for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images.

Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale and Matthew Fox

Directed by Marc Forster (Machine Gun Preacher and Quantum of Solace)

This is not the “walking” dead…it’s more like the “running at full speed” dead.

This film tells the story of a United Nations employee who seeks to save his family… and the world… from a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

TODD’S WORD: Let’s start with the basics, this is a zombie movie. Sure it’s a zombie movie with Brad Pitt, but still a zombie movie. That means there’s a mysterious virus that’s never explained, the outbreak, the violent killings, the bleak forecast, the learning curve and the discovery of a cure/solution. And that’s exactly what you get in World War Z…oh yeah and Brad Pitt.

JONATHAN’S WORD: Yes, but that’s not always the case with the zombie genre. In most of the original Romero films (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead), there’s never any explanation or fight for a cure, there’s just the fight for survival. The Walking Dead television show is the same way. The story is about survival, not the hunt for the cure.

World War Z offers a slightly different twist (a la 28 Days Later or I Am Legend) in looking for a cure or a solution. In other words… hope! World War Z offers hope.

I liked that.

TODD’S WORD: And you liked Brad Pitt?

JONATHAN’S WORD: Brad is an interesting actor. It’s more difficult to enjoy Brad as an actor of late because you’re distracted with his personal life splattered all over the tabloids. But as an actor, he’s very impressive. He always has been. It’s hard to see someone with as much range. Take movies like Kalifornia, Twelve Monkeys, True Romance, Snatch, The Mexican, Meet Joe Black…. it’s hard to even believe it’s the same guy playing these roles. The man’s got skills. So yes, I enjoyed Brad. He doesn’t overact, he always brings something new to the role… he was great.

TODD’S WORD: I guess I just thought there was too much Brad. The cast is lead by Brad Pitt. In fact there are only a handful of scenes he’s not in which makes every other character feel like their only real role is to support what Pitt is doing.

JONATHAN’S WORD: I didn’t get that feeling at all.

TODD’S WORD: The movie did offer something new, the speed of the zombies. Most of the time in movies we see the undead walking and stumbling around. But in WWZ we see them running, and running really fast.

JONATHAN’S WORD: Well, yes, it is true that zombies might have the stigma of being slow and clumsy. Romero started that. But the Return of the Living Dead series (1985) made them fast. Danny Boyle did the same with his “infected” in 28 Days Later (2002); Zack Snyder made them sprinting fast in the Dawn of Dead remake (2004). Others have followed suit.

TODD’S WORD: The World War Z zombies seem smarter and more intense as well.

JONATHAN’S WORD: Well, it’s hard to get more intense than the “infected” in 28 Days Later, but I did sense some intelligence from the World War Z zombies, or at least intelligent instinct. For example, the way they climb like ants. Very creative.

TODD’S WORD: It seems that every zombie story has it’s own twist. You provide a few yourself in your upcoming Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenagers book that you let me read. When’s that come out?

JONATHAN’S WORD: It will be released by The Youth Cartel in August.

TODD’S WORD: The other new twist in WWZ was the weakness of the zombies. Sure a bullet to the head still works, but we also discover another weakness as well. We won’t discuss it—don’t want to spoil it for you.

JONATHAN’S WORD: I liked that part of the movie. It had mystery to it that Pitt’s character was forced to solve. Hard to discuss without spoiling it, but I think audiences are going to find it very believable.

The other part of the movie I have to mention is how clean the film is. The film is not only free of sex and nudity (which isn’t always the case with zombie films), but it’s free of gratuitous gore. The move is actually a little tamer than The Walking Dead television show, believe it or not. This is a film that I wouldn’t hesitate bringing junior high kids to, if they weren’t easily frightened.

TODD’S WORD: I agree. It was one of the few in the zombie genre that truly isn’t an R-rating. Probably comparable to Will Smith’s I Am Legend in intensity and content.

JONATHAN’S WORD: Good comparison.

TODD’S WORD: Brad Pitt does a decent job and the fast moving zombies are scary and fun to watch, but at the end of the day it’s just another zombie movie and because of that, I’m going to give it a score of “RENTAL.”

JONATHAN’S WORD: And I’m going to give it my highest score, “WORTH BUYING.” You will see this film on my shelf.

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT
It depends on how frightened they get. This one should be fine for most older teenagers. There is no sex or nudity and the language is on the mild side, but the zombie action is pretty intense. If you let them see I Am Legend, then this is very comparable.

CONVERSATION STARTER

1. There is a scene where one character tells Brad Pitt that every person aboard the ship has a specific purpose. What were some of the purposes?


2. What happened if you were unwilling to fulfill your purpose?


3. Read I Corinthians 12:12-31
   
   12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

   15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

   21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

   27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

   
   What are some of the specific purposes or roles people who are believers have?


4. What’s your specific role or purpose as a member of the body of Christ?


5. What happens if you decide you don’t want to do it?