World War Z

World War Z is an 2013 apocalyptic film directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks. The film stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who must travel the world to find a way to stop a zombie-like pandemic.

Pitt's Plan B Entertainment secured the film rights in 2007 and Forster was approached to direct. In 2009, Carnahan was hired to rewrite the script to the film. Filming began in July 2011 in Malta on an estimated $125 million budget, before moving to Glasgow in August 2011 and Budapest in October 2011. Originally set for a December 2012 release, the production suffered some setbacks. In June 2012, the film's release date was pushed back and the crew returned to Budapest for seven weeks of additional shooting. Damon Lindelof was hired to rewrite the third act, but did not have the time to finish the script and Drew Goddard was hired to rewrite it. The reshoots took place between September and October 2012.

World War Z premiered in London on June 2, 2013 and was chosen to open the 35th Moscow International Film Festival. The film was released on June 21, 2013 in the United States in 2D and RealD 3D. The film received a positive reaction from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $500 million on a $190 million budget. A sequel, cancelled during the film's troubled filming process, is now in development once again.

Plot

Former UN employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and their two daughters, Rachel and Constance, sit in heavy Philadelphia traffic when the city is attacked by hordes of zombies. As the chaos spreads, the Lanes escape the city in a stolen RV and arrive at Newark, New Jersey. After stocking up on asthma medicine for Rachel at a chaotic city pharmacy, they take refuge in an apartment unit, home to another couple with a young boy named Tommy. Deputy Secretary-General Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena)—an old friend of Gerry's—calls and tells the family that he is sending a helicopter to rescue them.

The helicopter extracts the Lanes and Tommy (who followed them after he escaped his infected parents) from the building to a fleet of U.S. Navy vessels off the coast of New York City, where scientists and military personnel analyze the scope of the worldwide outbreaks. A virologist, Dr. Andrew Fassbach (Elyes Gabel), argues that the plague is a virus, whose origin must be found in order for a vaccine to be developed. Because of his expertise as a former UN investigator, Gerry is tasked with helping Fassbach find the outbreak's source. Gerry reluctantly agrees to help and is sent to Camp Humphreys, a military base in South Korea.

Moments after arriving at the base, Gerry's team is attacked by zombies. Fassbach panics and accidentally shoots himself. After being rescued by the base's surviving personnel led by Captain Speke (James Badge Dale), Gerry learns that the zombies are attracted to noise and the only way to stop them is to shoot their heads. A former CIA operative (David Morse) is a surviving prisoner at the base, tells Gerry to go to Jerusalem, where the Israeli Mossad have established a safe zone just before the outbreak was officially acknowledged, implying Israel might have had prior knowledge of what was to come. As Gerry and his team bike stealthily to the plane, Karin calls him through his satellite phone, activating a loud ringtone that attracts the zombies. The zombies attack and kill several of the soldiers, including Captain Speke, who commits suicide to prevent himself from turning, while they cover Gerry and his pilot during the escape.

In Jerusalem, Gerry meets Director of Mossad Jurgen Warmbrunn (Ludi Boeken), who explains that the Mossad had months earlier intercepted communications from an army general in India, who stated that Indian troops were fighting the "rakshasa," or "dead spirits." With this knowledge, the city quarantined itself. Jurgen then takes Gerry to the gates of the walls that were built by the Israelis after quarantining the city. The Israelis are allowing any survivors in to seek refuge inside the city. However, after hearing the loud singing and celebrations of the refugees within, the thousands of zombies outside begin forming massive piles, running and climbing over one another in an attempt to climb over the wall. Eventually, the zombies succeed in breaching the wall, and panic erupts everywhere as the infection spreads, with the military soon being overwhelmed. Jurgen orders Gerry's escorts to accompany him to his airplane. During their escape, Gerry notices that an old man and an emaciated boy were ignored by the zombies. While fighting the horde, Gerry's escort, an Israeli soldier who identifies herself only as "Segen" (Daniella Kertesz), is bitten by a zombie. Gerry quickly amputates her hand to stop the spread of the infection. Gerry and Segen are eventually forced to escape Israel on an airliner when Gerry's pilot panics and flies away as the city population was left for dead.

Contacting Thierry, the pilots are diverted and set course for a WHO research facility in Cardiff, Wales. While in the air, a stowaway zombie escapes into the main cabin and attacks the passengers. The plane crashes after Gerry detonates a grenade to blow out all the zombies, the damage causing the pilots to lose control. Segen and Gerry proceed on foot as the only apparent survivors, although Gerry is critically injured after being impaled by aircraft debris in the crash. He loses consciousness upon arrival at the facility.

Three days later, Gerry awakens from his coma inside the main building of the facility and meets with the surviving staff. Gerry reveals a theory he has, based on the fact that the old man and the sickly boy were ignored: the infected do not bite people who are seriously injured or already terminally ill, since they would be unsuitable hosts for viral reproduction. He volunteers to inject himself with a terminal but curable pathogen to prove if his theory works. However, the wing of the building in which the pathogens are stored was overrun by zombies after a doctor accidentally infected himself. Gerry decides to go get a pathogen regardless, while Segen and the lead WHO doctor accompany him for backup. They fight their way through the zombies, and although Gerry is separated from Segen and the doctor (who were forced to return to the main building), he reaches the pathogen vault. After getting cornered inside the vault by a lone zombie, Gerry's only course of action is to perform an impromptu test of his theory. He injects himself and opens the vault door— the zombie ignores him and later the entire horde runs past him. After he makes it back to the safe main building, everyone rejoices at his theory's success, and they restock their supplies and journey to an extraction point.

Gerry returns to his family (who have adopted Tommy), now relocated off the ship and to a safe zone in Freeport, Nova Scotia. A "vaccine" derived from deadly pathogens is developed that acts as camouflage for the troops battling the infected, and fleeing survivors can now cross zombie-infested areas with ease to quarantine zones. Human offensives begin against the zombies, and hope is restored. Gerry comments, "This isn't the end. Not even close."

Cast

Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who is blackmailed into returning in order to investigate the pandemic that is spiralling out of control across the globe.

Mireille Enos as Karin Lane, Gerry's wife and mother of their two children.

Fana Mokoena as Thierry Umutoni, the UN Deputy Secretary-General.

Daniella Kertesz as an Israeli soldier known only as "Segen" who accompanies Gerry when he leaves Israel.

James Badge Dale as Captain Speke, a U.S. Army Ranger stationed at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.

David Morse as a former CIA operative imprisoned at Camp Humphreys for selling weapons to North Korea.

Ludi Boeken as Jurgen Warmbrunn, the Director of Mossad; responsible for preparing Israel's pre-emptive defences.

Matthew Fox as a U.S. Navy SEAL sent by Thierry Umutoni to rescue the Lanes in Newark.

Abigail Hargrove as Rachel Lane, Gerry and Karin's elder daughter.

Sterling Jerins as Constance Lane, Gerry and Karin's younger daughter.

Fabrizio Zacharee Guidoas as Tommy, a young boy who is rescued by the Lane family in Newark after his parents were infected. He is later adopted by the Lanes in Freeport.