World War Z

With this, we are getting two-thirds of a halfway decent movie. The movie has a helluva start, and an even better middle, making it seem like it’s going to deliver the big summer goods. Then, in its final act, it totally craps out. Too bad, because I was looking to Brad Pitt’s zombie movie as relief from the mediocre, big-budget blockbusters we’ve gotten this summer (with the blessed exceptions of Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness). The much-troubled production shows every one of its scars, especially in its bungled, positively ridiculous finale. The opening sequence in Philadelphia is a winner, and the zombies attacking Israel and going nuts on an airplane score good thrills. The movie doesn’t know where it’s going in the end, and it just sort of putters out. Pitt gives it his best, but the movie seems afraid of itself. A zombie movie with no blood and no ending does not a good blockbuster make.