When an unknown virus spreads across the world turning people into zombies, Gerry Lane (Brad Bitt), his wife Karin (Mireille Enos), and their two daughters Rachel (Abigail Hargrove) and Constance (Sterling Jerins) barely make it out of Philadelphia alive when the city is overrun by the infected. They are aided by Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena), the UN Deputy Secretary-General, and Gerry's former boss, and taken to a U.S. Navy vessel off the coast of New York City, where a team of analysts and military personnel is analysing the scope of the worldwide outbreak. When there, Umutoni asks Gerry to help investigate the virus and assist virologist, Dr. Andrew Fassbach (Elyes Gabel), find the outbreak's source, because of his expertise as a former UN investigator.
Under duress for his family's safety, Gerry reluctantly agrees to fly to Camp Humphreys, a military base in South Korea where the word "zombie" was supposedly first used in reference to the outbreak.
From the very beginning the film is action packed and suspenseful, showcasing brilliant scenes of mass chaos and destruction. If the film wasn't in the middle of a suspenseful action sequence, the plot was moving just as fast with Gerry Lane doing plenty of globe trotting throughout the films 116min in order to find the origin of the virus and a possible cure. Although some of the situations Lane's character finds himself facing are borderline absurd, as are the zombies abilities at times, you're willing to maintain your suspension of disbelief for the entertaining action sequences. Similarly, the film starts to get slightly repetitive when characters continue to make the same mistakes again and again when faced with the zombies, but again they are forgivable.
The film also doesn't seem to define itself to a particular genre of apocalyptic film, with cities in chaos, military action, and scientific investigation all playing major parts in the film. Some my argue that this gives the film a lack of cohesiveness, but the tone always remains intact, and having the different aspects played out ensures that the film never gets stale.
While all this was done extremely well, it's safe to say it leaves the film with little room to do much else. If your after the thinking man's zombie apocalypse this movie isn't it. There's no time left for the development of the characters and their relationships, let alone time for a discussion of philosophical ideologies among them.
The ending is very sentimental and a little anti-climatic considering some of the more exciting scenes that preceded it, but it does it's job in providing a satisfying conclusion to the movie.
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable action film, with great pacing and plenty of suspense thrown in to keep the majority entertained.
Rating: 4/5
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