%20movie%C2%A0recap?unique=2ac4f8a)
The movie begins with Jerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator, starting his day with his family—his wife Karen and their two daughters are with him. The family are in their car, driving through the city of Philadelphia. Traffic is heavy, and they notice a lot of police activity. Suddenly, there's a loud explosion in the distance, immediately putting everyone on edge. Jerry gets out of the car to see what's going on, but something strange happens. Chaos erupts in the streets. People start running everywhere, screaming, and smashing into each other. As Jerry looks around, he sees something terrifying: people are attacking each other. The attackers seem to move fast, biting others, and within seconds, the bitten people turn into aggressive attackers themselves.
Jerry realizes that this isn't an ordinary riot or protest. As they try to escape, they come across people acting wild and vicious. These infected individuals are attacking anyone they see. Jerry quickly rushes his family into an RV to get away from the chaos. They drive to safety as Jerry listens to the radio, which describes a sudden outbreak happening in several cities. Jerry makes a call to his former UN colleague, Terry, to ask for help. Terry tells Jerry that they’re sending helicopters to rescue people, but Jerry’s family must make it to a rooftop for extraction.
Jerry and his family make it to an apartment building, where they take refuge for the night. They stay with a Hispanic family that offers them shelter. Jerry reassures his family and begins making a plan. Later that night, the chaos spills into the apartment building. Zombies swarm the building, forcing Jerry and his family to escape. They climb to the rooftop, and Jerry fights off several zombies as they make their way up. Unfortunately, the Hispanic family stays behind, refusing to leave, and they soon fall victim to the zombies. Jerry and his family barely make it to the rooftop in time for the helicopter's arrival. The helicopter rescues them, taking them to a safe zone on a ship offshore.
Once aboard the ship, Jerry meets with military officials and scientists who explain the situation. They inform him that the outbreak is happening worldwide, with millions already infected. The infection spreads through bites, turning people into fast, vicious zombies. The only way to stop the infection is to find the origin of the virus. They ask Jerry to help, knowing his experience as a UN investigator makes him the best choice to track the source. Reluctantly, Jerry agrees to help because he knows that keeping his family safe depends on it.
Jerry's first stop is South Korea, where the infection reportedly began. He flies there with a small team of soldiers and a scientist, Dr. Fassbach, who believes that understanding the virus's origin will help develop a vaccine. When they land at a military base in South Korea, it’s dark and rainy. They are immediately greeted by infected zombies, forcing the team to fight their way inside the base. Once inside, Jerry meets an officer who tells him more about the outbreak. The officer explains that patient zero may have come from a nearby village. He learns from the officer that the zombies are attracted to sound, making it nearly impossible to travel without drawing them.
A former CIA agent imprisoned at the base gives Jerry a new lead: he should go to Jerusalem, where the city has somehow managed to remain safe from the outbreak. The agent tells Jerry that the Israelis had built a large wall around the city before the outbreak started, hinting that they knew something was coming. Jerry takes the advice and heads to Jerusalem.
When Jerry arrives in Jerusalem, he is welcomed by the military, led by Jurgen Warmbrunn. The massive wall around the city keeps the zombies out, and the people inside are living normally. Warmbrunn explains that they intercepted communications suggesting a global epidemic was coming, so they took precautions. It seems that Jerusalem is one of the last safe places left. However, while Jerry is there, the noise of people celebrating and singing draws the attention of the zombies outside. The horde of zombies begins to climb the wall, forming a massive tower of bodies, and soon they start pouring over the wall into the city. Chaos breaks out as zombies flood the streets, attacking everyone in sight. Jerry is caught in the middle of it and barely manages to escape with the help of an Israeli soldier, Segen.
Jerry and Segen make their way through the city, trying to avoid the zombies. During their escape, Jerry notices something strange: the zombies ignore certain people, particularly those who seem weak or sick. This observation sticks with Jerry as he and Segen finally make it to a plane that will take them to safety. On the plane, Jerry tries to relax for a moment, but it doesn’t last long as a zombie that was hiding in the cargo area makes its way into the passenger cabin, attacking everyone on board. Panic erupts as the infection spreads through the plane, and Jerry realizes he has to act fast. He takes a grenade and throws it into the cabin to blow open the door, causing the zombies to be sucked out of the plane. The explosion causes the plane to crash, and Jerry and Segen are the only survivors.
The two of them wake up injured but alive and make their way to a World Health Organization (WHO) facility. Once inside, Jerry explains his theory to the doctors: the zombies avoid attacking people who are terminally ill or seriously sick because they aren’t good hosts for the virus. Jerry believes that by infecting himself with a deadly but curable virus, he could walk through the zombies without being attacked. The doctors agree to help, but explain that the part of the lab containing the deadly viruses is overrun with zombies. Jerry volunteers to go alone to retrieve the viruses.
He makes his way through the building, carefully avoiding zombies. At one point, he accidentally knocks over some equipment, drawing the attention of a nearby zombie. Jerry quickly injects himself with the virus, hoping his theory is correct. As the zombie approaches him, it sniffs him but doesn’t attack. Jerry’s plan works—the virus makes him invisible to the zombies. With this breakthrough, Jerry returns to the doctors, who create a vaccine based on his discovery. The vaccine doesn’t cure the infection but acts as a temporary solution, allowing people to move through areas infested with zombies without being attacked. This gives humanity a fighting chance to survive and fight back against the infection.
In the end, Jerry is reunited with his family. Although the war isn't over, there is hope that humanity can now survive and push back against the outbreak.
Source:
Scene Reviewer. (2024, October 10). World War Z Movie Recap in 6 min | World War Z Movie Explained [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJM3yTzZHEo