World War Z

Zombie or ‘the undead’, a sub genre for horror, zombie films are made to make you jump, make you scream, make you sad, make you quiver. In history there have been some cracking stories. Dawn of the dead, Resident Evil, Dawn of the Living Dead and even Shaun of the Dead. But they’re all the same (besides Shaun of the Dead of course) due to the reasons, there all about survival, maybe sometimes go over the top a little in being a little unrealistic (heck, there all unrealistic) and they all more or less have the word ‘dead’ in the names. But this summer, the awakening of evolution for zombies has arrived. World War Z, a written novel by Max Brooks, produced by Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster has arrived.

Now firstly, we can all agree on what the title will be referring to in this film, the name World War Z is getting the fact across that there is a war against the undead and that they need to survive it. Like I said most Zombie horrors is about survival but World War Z is different and it’s because of one specific word and the word isn’t just death but depth, the novelist/director had put so much thought into the plot, the origin is clear, the survival techniques are smart and the outcome is clever.

I enjoyed the fact, the film had jumped straight in at the beginning, within ten minutes of serenity, the outbreak became know to Brad Pitt and all hell broke loose.

Yes I have said that this film is of a new generation of zombie, which was referring to the genre, but it also refers to the actual, bloodthirsty, sadistic rotting creature that is the zombie, now the reason I say is because of their body language and movements. These zombies, not only walk or run, they can leap, scale and rip apart more or less anything that separates themselves from their pray like savage beasts. In one scene, there displays hundreds of zombies chasing only a few soldiers through the street, but at the rate of pace that each individual zombie is running at and their crave for flesh, they stumble upon each other constantly, creating a wave effect and I mean literally. Their also rather intelligent in comparison to normal zombies as they were able to create in theory, ladders to scale walls.

Now Brad Pitt’s, performance was good but wasn’t of his potential standard. Not enough emotion was used from Pitt and in such a situation that is needed. Overall it was still a good performance.

The production design wasn’t spectacular as the creators already had a base on which they could build on with modern cities, but the choice of location was brilliant, especially the final location, being set in South Wales and being a citizen of Wales, I for sure am quite happy to see such a country be used in cinema, which never happens, I’m sure the Welsh all felt or will feel patriotic when viewing the film.

The ending, I’m not to sure on, it was great mo

vie but the ending quote, I wasn’t too keen on as it leaves an opening for a sequel and they have in fact been discussing it. But, the film is based off a singular book, so I am not sure whether it’s a good or bad idea.

Overall, the verdict is simple, fantastic film, extremely impressed and can see why the novel was so popular. I just hope, if they were to create a sequel, they are to do it correctly.

After Earth

Earth was evacuated due to global warming and the amount of pollution produced. Humans then populate a new world: Nova Prime. Years later, humans Will Smith and Jaden Smith unwillingly return to Earth.

After Earth is the new Sci-Fi epic, story written by Will Smith. In which Jaden must go on a treacherous journey across the now hazardous Earth to send an SOS.

The films retelling of the past, was well done. Very interesting, touching and heroic. One thing they could have changed though was the narrator, as it was nigh understandable and seemed too weak to have been this important role. 

The film had a very entertaining story, it had the base of which is explained above, but with a combination of this and what happens along the way, makes a very good Sci-Fi adventure.

All of the visual codes were fantastic, whether this be the cinematography, special effects, the art direction, costume, make up, whatever. Although with the art direction, yes it was very impressive, representing Earth as if it was of when it was in its peak form, showing off its beauty and serenity, it was a little unrealistic in the sense that there was no form of human history anywhere, no remains of buildings or roads or anything, the only sign was a damn. But geographically the location might have been segregated from any form of human remains.

The soundtrack/score was powerful and necessary for such a situation, representing the apocalyptic wasteland, Jadens quest and journey and the build up towards the final finale.

The finale is exactly what we have been waiting for, a good old fashion can whoop assing. The finale consists of courage, adrenaline and power and was most definitely an entertaining sequence.

I also love the idea of Father and Son acting along side one another as it represents true bondage between them and how a family can react with one another.

Now unfortunately, with positives, comes negatives. I think the script writing was extremely basic and the conversations between characters were very dry. The performance from the whole cast was again rather dry, over acted and emotionless. Even for a top class actor like Will Smith, he was no way near able to reach the same expectations as his other characters were from his other films which
all, more or less have have been acclaimed successes. All of his characters have all represented a good personality except this one. Jaden was the same, except his experience within the film industry is limited at the moment. On the other hand, to help counter balance this negative Jadens body language was absolutely brilliant as although his dialogue was disappointing, how he acted through facial expressions, body language and tears prevailed marvellously.

In conclusion After Earth was a good one hot wonder, which shouldn't be made into a sequel. It had all of the qualities a Sci-Fi epic is expected to have and also this is only one bump in Will's journey and only a small addition to Jadens experience. So I am sure that they will continue to impress fan all around the globe.