This time it’s Brad Pitt’s turn to find himself embroiled in an apocalyptic drama as his “Gerry” character and his family are caught up in a zombie uprising that puts the entire population at risk. Now this isn’t just your run-of-the mill American scenario - this is a truly global one. Fortunately for humanity, “Gerry” is a former investigator for the United Nations but don’t let that put you off, he’s actually not too shabby at his job so in order to preserve those dear to him, he agrees to work for Deputy Secretary General “Umatoni” (Fana Mokoena) in trying to find some sort of cure for the pathogen that’s causing all this turmoil. That takes him to Jerusalem and the via an handily placed Belarus airways plane to Cardiff where there might just be hope if he can get to an WHO laboratory before the virus does. To be fair, here, there are some great visual effects and the zombie make-up department have done wonders to turn ordinary human beings into maniacal beings without resorting to plasticine tendrils and exploding ketchup sachets. Pitt does fine as the cerebral but still energetic all-action hero and though there’s very little original about this, it does at least try to involve the whole world in the problem and in it’s potential solution which allows roles for Peter Capaldi and Elyes Gabel to bring an internationalist look to the adventures. Of those, there are quite a few and the human pyramid that storms the Israeli capital is maybe the high point as bullets and helicopters fly around all over that sacred site. The eagle-eyed amongst us might even spot the ever-gangly John Gordon Sinclair (remember “Gregory’s Girl” from 1980?) as a navy SEAL. The production standards are high and Marc Forster doesn’t let the grass grow so if you like your sci-fi horror films end-to-end with just a little nod to science, then this isn’t bad at all.
