World War Z (dir. Marc Forster).

Forster’s troubled, big budget zombie film plays as an international procedural in the midst of mass worldwide chaos. Brad Pitt (also a producer) stars as a globetrotting U.N. investigator and the film oddly feels more like a showcase for Pitt as a father and family man than anything else. Its first half is full of gripping yet tame zombie violence and lots of running away with hints of geopolitical allusions.

After a sharp turn, it becomes an entirely different film with a reshot and reconceived third act. This section is a slow, tense thriller about desperation and hope. WWZ works occasionally as a loosely strung together series of sequences. Unfortunately, when it tries to connect its muddled, aimless plotting together, it drags despite some exhilarating action and scenes of true suspense.