On monday June the 3rd World War Z held its french premiere in presence of its director Marc Forster and its producer /star Brad Pitt.Here’s my review of the piece.

The challenge to make a PG-13 Zombie movie by switching the focus from revulsion to tension and genre from horror movie to war/action/disaster movie is pretty successful the pace is relentless during two thirds of the movie.

Apocalyptic imagery is pretty effective thanks to some Gargantuan budget, the movie has definitely an epic feel , the outbreak in Philadelphia and the fall of Jerusalem (featured prominently in the trailers) are spectacular.

The mood is somber for a summer fare we really do feel the end of civilization as Brad Pitt’s character travel the world searching for a cure witnessing the fall of humanity’s last bastions.

A stop in South Korea under a heavy rain is a moody sequence where we get to see James Badge Dale, after Flight and Iron Man 3 and before lone Ranger (the dude is everywhere) delivering a fine performance.

The Zombies like Zack Snyder’s are from the (very) fast breed but the film innovation to the genre is that as they are even more dangerous in group forming large destructive herds like wildebeests or columns like ants.

The movie is famous for its troubled productionMatthew Michael Carnahan’s (the Kingdom) ending already filmed was discarded, rewritten by Damon Lindelof (of Lost) fame and reshot.

The goal was to deliver a more heartfelt conclusion but as much as I like those scenes (where  the humanity and humor of its writer is felt)  I find the change of tone  too jarring. As we fall in more classic zombie movie situation without the usual « bite » those scenes are less effective.

We get a glimpse of the original ending in the closing moments,  I hope we will see them in the Blu ray edition.

More Independence Day than Dawn of the Dead, World War Z is an entertaining blockbuster with an epic scope, great tension and some great scenes. 7/10