05 July 13 - World War Z

**this review contains no spoilers**

"Mother Nature is a serial killer..." ~ World War Z

In a time where zombies and vampires seem to be Hollywood's latest cash cow, World War Z isn't your average ...run of the mill zombie movie, blogspot readers. Actually this summer  blockbuster offers a plausible scenario (just like another movie - Contagion) where the entire world is infected by a fast spreading disease which could ultimately wipe out the human race. Yet unlike Contagion, World War Z doesn't offer a solid solution to this devastating problem ...but a sliver of hope that it can be wiped out in a matter of time.

Based on a book by Max Brooks, World War Z stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a family man of two daughters but more importantly a former UN worker who has worked with, in and around dangerous situations before. But nothing like he's about to face after witnessing what appears to be a zombie attacking a human during the middle of petrified chaos when a explosion rocks the busy Manhattan area. He and his family are able to escape out of the city (just barely) and face terrifying obstacles while spending an overnight stay in New Jersey before help finally arrives to get them. Good thing too because these zombies are quite smart, blogspot readers. Don't think of them as the slow-moving, "hungry for brains" ones like George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. In this movie, they're fast-moving living dead that can sniff out healthy humans to attack. By the time rescue arrives, Newark, New Jersey is overrun ...practically every major city in east including Washington DC has been overrun by zombies. Now begins the fatal race against time since even the world's foremost experts on diseases don't know whether these attacks are caused by something viral or bacterial and they need to find the answers to pinpoint where this began and by what or whom. This task, forcefully bestowed upon Gerry when "asked" to help in this search, has him traveling to places like South Korea and Israel where he discovers (a) how widespread the pandemic is and (b) clues on how the living dead function ie what attracts them to non-dead humans. With the help of an injured Israeli soldier and doctors at a W.H.O. (World Health Organization) facility, he finds a possible solution after remembering what he witnessed when hordes of zombies attacked in Jerusalem. It may not be the best solution yet it does give the surviving human race a chance to live and fight for another day...

Though this movie leaves you clueless as to who is "patient 0" and where did the epidemic began, World War Z, blogspot readers, is truly one of those types of movies that a scenario could possibly happen within the present and/or near future time. Look at the recent years when N1H1 (or swine flu) or H7N9 (bird flu) as well as mad cow disease dominated the news feed. Plus there are other incurable diseases that lurk somewhere in the far reaches of the world we don't know about which one day could start a pandemic like World War Z but probably not like a horrifying zombie attack ...then again, who knows what such disease might do to humans once infected. SouthSide didn't mean to frighten some blogspot readers yet it's the reality we as a human race need to face as medical technology and medicine  continues to advance. Just hope something like this never happens. This reviewer had fun getting sucked into the fast paced action that takes you on and plausible movie plot (despite not having the chance to read Max Brook's book) as well as the intense scenes whenever the zombies happen to appear without a moment's notice. Believe, this reviewer when she says "intense".  She saw a theater full of adults jumping with fright during those moments since World War Z isn't the usual "in your face gore" type of movie. This movie relies on the subtlety of the zombie character to appear out of nowhere to give you that chilling sensation of fright. And there's nothing like a zombie suddenly appearing on screen to make grown men scream inside a dark theater. SouthSide doesn't seel Brad Pitt's Gerry Lane character as the"hero" even though he took some incredible (and terrifying) risks to not only save his family but the rest of world throughout this movie. The character did fight the odds stacked against him when he came close to being zombie food especially during one scene  he injects himself with a deadly disease. As a Muse fan, this reviewer instantly recognized the band's songs 2nd Law: Isolated System and Follow Me (off Muse's current release - 2nd Law) and original music by Marco Beltrami. The Beltrami-Matthew Bellamy music combination gave this reviewer a unique thrill ride of orchestrated and synthesized sound while watching this movie. She can see where Bellamy and Muse got their inspiration for the album's other songs like Panic Station, Supremacy, and Survival since it's known they were reading the book while recording.

Overall, blogspot readers, this reviewer highly recommends seeing World War Z.