Eventually audiences will tire of zombie-based entertainment, but 2013 didn’t mark that point. As evidence, World War Z did pretty well. With a worldwide gross of $540 million, it didn’t dominate at the box office, but it still became one of the summer’s bigger hits.

The film opens in Philadelphia, where we meet former UN investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and daughters Constance (Sterling Jerins) and Rachel (Abigail Hargrove). On a drive through the city, vehicle crashes pile up and crazed people swarm to attack anyone they can find.

It turns out an infection is at work, one that transforms folks into mindless, vicious zombie-like creatures. Each attacker spreads the disease to a new victim and thus multiplies rapidly.

Gerry and family narrowly escape Philly and head toward New York, where Gerry will reconnect with his old UN boss Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena). Gerry gets recruited to head back into the field and track down the source/cause of the virus. This sends him to South Korea and then elsewhere on a worldwide journey to solve the problem – and find a solution.

When Z hit screens, it did so with bad advance press. The production underwent a mix of problems, issues big enough to necessitate a massive rewrite well into the shoot. Normally concerns like that signal a movie that will flop.

As noted already, Z did fine at the box office, but that doesn’t mean it also would offer a creative success. The film got generally positive reviews, and I lean in that direction, as I maintain a generally positive feeling toward it. While I can’t say I love it, I think the movie usually works pretty well.

On the negative side, the film’s computer graphics can become an issue. This especially seems true due to representations of the zombies, as when rendered via CG, those characters tend to look phony and create distractions.

In addition, the movie’s narrative tends to ramble somewhat, and this becomes an issue largely as it connects to Gerry’s family. They play a major motivational role in the movie, as Gerry performs his actions primarily to keep them safe.

Because of this, Karin and the kids eventually end up as little more than plot devices – semi-forgotten plot devices after a while, too. They pop up when the movie needs them to motivate Gerry but usually, they’re an afterthought.

This becomes true especially as the movie progresses. Indeed, one starts to wonder if the flick’s creators failed to remember their existence along the way.

That said, no one goes to see a movie like Z for deep, rich family drama. I should probably appreciate the level to which it attempts to be more than just mindless zombie mayhem.

Not that it works too hard to elevate itself, but it nods toward something more ambitious than the standard fare, and I like that. It comes across kind of like “Contagion with zombies”, and I think that’s an interesting approach that gives the story more meat.

None of this would matter if Z didn’t deliver the zombie action we crave, and the film does fairly well in that regard. Given my prior experiences with director Marc Forster, I didn’t enter Z with much optimism, though.

He made arguably the worst Bond film ever. At that time, Forster showed little flair for action, so I feared the worst here.

Happily, Forster does much better with the material this time, as he manages to create attack/battle sequences with a reasonable amount of flair and power. These tend to work best earlier in the film, possibly because these moments become a bit monotonous. Though the movie gives us fast, resilient zombies, their scenes still tend to blend together after a while.

Nonetheless, the action bits manage good tension and drama, and they help keep us interested. If done right, a movie like this could probably succeed with minimal action, as the basic “race against the clock” motif of other virus-based movies comes to mind.

However, such a thrust would defeat the basic conceit of Z. It’s still a zombie flick at heart, so we want lots of crazed mayhem, and Z does pretty well in that regard.

In terms of the cast, Pitt brings some gravitas to the effort and gives it a depth it otherwise might lack. I also like the fact that the stars show no "Hollywood glamour", as clearly their makeup remains spare and never makes Pitt or anyone else look nice. That’s appropriate, as the nature of the story works best when it emphasizes grittiness.

None of this creates a classic horror/action movie, but World War Z has enough going for it to make it a relative winner. While it could’ve used a little more work to elevate it to a higher level, it still entertains and turns into a tense, exciting piece.

World War Z appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision presentation appeared to replicate the source image nicely.

Sharpness remained solid. Only a smidgen of mild softness ever impacted on wide shots, as the majority of the movie demonstrated positive and definition.

Jagged edges and shimmering failed to occur, and I witnessed no signs of edge haloes. Print flaws weren’t a factor, so the movie always remained clean and fresh.

Like most modern action movies, Z went with a stylized palette that favored orange and teal. Actually, we got reds, ambers and yellows in there, too, but the emphasis on less-than-natural hues remained.

These could get annoying, but they were reproduced well within stylistic confines. HDR added range and punch to the tones as well.

Blacks appeared deep and dark, while shadows displayed good clarity and smoothness. Both whites and contrast enjoyed a boost from HDR. Overall, I liked this consistently positive presentation.

With its action orientation, the DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack of Z also worked well. The movie boasted a wide and involving soundfield.

This showed up during scenes both loud and quiet. During the former, music offered nice stereo presence, and various environmental elements displayed quality localization and involvement.

The bigger sequences added more pizzazz to the package. These used all the channels in a satisfying manner, as the action scenes created a lot of useful material. From start to finish, the mix used the speakers in a way that gave real life to the proceedings.

In addition, audio quality was strong. Music appeared vivid and full, with crisp highs and rich lows. Speech was concise and natural; no issues affected the lines.

Effects appeared to be accurate and lively. Those elements lacked distortion and they boasted nice low-end during their louder moments. Overall, I felt pleased with the mix.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the original Blu-ray from 2013? Both came with identical audio.

Though taken from an upscaled 2K source, the Dolby Vision 4K UHD showed improvements in delineation, colors and blacks. I thought the 4K gave the image a nice boost.

Note that Shout! Factory produced their own 4K UHD release of Z in 2023. I never saw that one but I would not feel surprised to learn that the 2024 Paramount 4K stemmed from the same visual source – though oddly, the 2023 Shout! 4K dropped the original 7.1 to opt solely for 5.l audio.

To complicate matters, a 3D Blu-ray of Z exists. For those equipped with both 3D and 4K monitors, which becomes preferred?

I would opt for the 4K, as the 3D image came across as semi-uninspired “2.5D” for the most part. Though I didn’t dislike that presentation, it didn’t offer a compelling reason to pick it over the 2D.

Given that this 4K brings superior picture quality, that seals the deal. The 3D Blu-ray simply lacked the stereo pizzazz to overcome the weaker picture quality when compared to the 4K.

No extras appear on the 4K disc itself. However, we find a mix on the included Blu-ray disc, a platter that literally reproduces the original issue from 2013.

Probably the main attraction comes from the presence of the movie’s unrated version (2:03:03), which is the only cut on the Blu-ray. As far as I can tell, the 2023 Shout! package offered the first – and only – 2D Blu-ray presentation of the 116-minute theatrical edition, which is the same one we see on that 4K disc and this one.

Note that the longer Z only appears on Blu-ray and not 4K, which also holds true for the 2023 Shout! 4K package as well.

When compared directly, I start to think the “Unrated Cut” should be retitled the “Version With Stuff Chopped Out to Get Us a ‘PG-13’”. Virtually no additional narrative material appears here, as all the added snippets show up during action sequences.

We don’t get “R”-rated gore, either. The extra action tends to echo what we see in the theatrical cut, but we simply get more of it.

Granted, we do find a little more gore – like shots of a character who removes his own teeth, or images of blood spurting from an amputated arm – but I don’t think any of these elements on their own would escalate the rating above “PG-13”. If fans expect Romero-style graphic nastiness, they’ll not find it here.

Instead, I think it was simply the amount of graphic content that might’ve gotten the longer Z an “R”, not anything specific in the movie that demanded an “R”.

Because the longer version does virtually nothing to alter the narrative, I don’t think it works better – or worse – than the theatrical cut. It might be a little more intense given the added action beats, but it doesn’t change things in a notable manner.

Again, it’s not even significantly more graphic than the “PG-13”, as it simply delivers more of the same style of material. It’s fun to see as an alternative, but it doesn’t change the film in a substantial way.

A few featurettes follow. Origins goes for eight minutes, 21 seconds and includes comments from producers Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner, director Marc Forster, writer J. Michael Straczynski, and actors Mireille Enos.

We learn about the source novel and its adaptation for the screen, how Forster came to the project, story/character areas, Brad Pitt’s involvement, and cast/performances. “Origins” lacks a lot of depth, but it throws out a decent set of notes.

Looking to Science lasts seven minutes, 28 seconds and offers material from Gardner, Kleiner, Straczynski, Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! book editor Otto Penzler, evolutionary biologist David Hughes, science writer Carl Zimmer and visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar.

We get a quick history of zombies in popular culture as well as research and natural influences for the movie’s zombies. Like “Origins”, “Science” is too short, but it also gives us interesting information.

Under WWZ: Production, four featurettes fill a total of 36 minutes, 18 seconds. We find remarks from Zimmer, Forster, Gardner, Enos, Farrar, Kleiner, Hughes, location manager Michael Harm, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Simon Crane, VFX supervisor Matt Johnson, stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, military advisor Freddie Joe Farnsworth, weapons master Simon Atherton, military location advisor Andy Buckley, costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo, and actors Fana Mokoena, David Andrews, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Ludi Boeken, Daniella Kertesz, Peter Capaldi and Ruth Negga.

The programs cover sets and locations, stunts and various effects, story/character areas, cast and performances, and some scientific connections.

Too much of “Production” just regurgitates the film’s narrative, but we find a reasonable number of useful elements along the way. Though this doesn’t become a great examination of the film, it works fairly well much of the time.

Note that the aforementioned 2023 Shout! Factory 4K release of Z comes with a bunch of extras that don’t appear here.

While I think World War Z sputters at times, it usually provides good action and excitement. The flick offers a fun twist on the zombie genre and keeps us entertained. The 4K UHD boasts very good picture and audio but lacks a strong roster of bonus features. The lack of deep supplements disappoints but the movie looks and sounds strong here.

Note that as of September 2024, this specific World War Z 4K UHD can be purchased solely as part of a four-movie "Paramount Scares Volume 2” box. That package also includes 4K UHD releases for Friday the 13th Part 2, 1997’s Breakdown, and 2022’s Orphan: First Kill.

In addition, the package provides a special edition of Fangoria magazine along with iron-on patches for each film, a “Paramount Scares” logo sticker, a “Paramount Scares” glow-in-the-dark enamel pin and a special poster.

As noted in the body of the review, of these four movies, only World War Z enjoys an existing individual 4K release, though it differs from this one, as it came from Shout! Factory in 2023. Friday, Breakdown and First Kill all make their 4K debuts in this set and they are only available as part of this box as of fall 2024.

To rate this film, visit the 2D review of WORLD WAR Z