The World War Z Scene That Went Too Far
It takes seven whole minutes for "World War Z" to get going. The second the wing mirror of Gerry Lane's (Brad Pitt) car gets cracked by a police bike, Marc Forster's zombie movie epic kicks in and doesn't let up. Traveling the globe slowly turning its population into the undead, poor Gerry goes from one massive, nail-biting set piece to the next, and it's absolutely epic. From his fleeing an apartment block to his zombie-evading bike ride in South Korea, every action sequence is a smartly executed moment as memorable as the last. With that said, though, there's one sequence in "World War Z" that feels a bit far-fetched, even for a film focused on a zombie invasion.
As gripping as it may be, there's an intense zombie attack near the film's third act that pushes the boundaries of believability right out the window, and the scene leads to a catastrophe of almost cartoonish lengths. "World War Z" may have gotten viewers all hooked, but it was a plane crash that arguably resulted in a borderline eye-rolling moment.
Zombies on a plane was a little too far for World War Z
During a flight out of an overrun Jerusalem, an infected passenger breaks free, turning up the danger dial again. With chances of containing the growing horde dwindling, Gerry's first reaction is to ... pile luggage to keep them at bay. Gerry might as well be stacking pillows to keep the Zekes apart, making it hardly surprising when after one case falls, hell continues to break loose through the aircraft. With human numbers dwindling fast, Gerry decides the only course of action is to throw a grenade, blow a massive hole in the plane, and pull a bunch of infected out into the air. Of course, now he's just ensured the plane will crash. Thanks a lot, Gerry.
In any other reality, the chances of our hero surviving would be practically nonexistent, but of course, when they look like Brad Pitt, that's a different story. After the plane goes down, Gerry wakes as one of the only survivors of the accident, being held in mid-air by a seat belt and severely injured by a piece of shrapnel piercing his stomach. Rather than do the sensible thing and keep it in, our hero decides to first drop to the ground and yank the thing out, increasing his risk of leaking like a human juice box and rounding up this collection of bad choices. "World War Z" might make for a winning watch, but this battle with common sense is its biggest loss.