World War Z seems to be lost in a myriad of zombie movies and games that have inundated popular culture over the past few years. Because of this, thoughtful and poignant additions to the genre often become tarred with a brush of nonchalance, from both the viewing public and those paid to critique them.

So is World War Z actually better than people have given it credit for? Brad Pitt certainly seems to think so; towing the company line, he’s constantly said how epic he believes it to be, and how his two sons – in his eyes, his biggest critics – loved it. A 73% overall rating on review aggregator [Rotten Tomatoes is by no meals a failure; it represents a strong film with noticeable flaws. Had this film come out at the very beginning of the apocalypse of zombie films, would we have seen a different response? Probably. Little White Lies – the well respected film site – weighed in with their opinion soon after the so-called ‘big hitters’ had theirs. “Epic scope, intimate action and enough in there to see it as a disaster movie for our times,” goes their review. Needless to say, it was overly positive.

Popular criticisms of the film suggest it’s hard to connect with; that the blockbuster style makes this film less of a zombie adventure and more of generic action film. Perhaps Brad Pitt playing the lead distracts somewhat, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that people want too much from their undead action these days.

Brad PittBrad Pitt looking cool at the World War Z premiere in New York

Brad Pitt
You don't want to know what he was about to say