'Block Z' review: Not bad, but forgettable

'BLOCK Z.' Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto lead the cast of 'Block Z,' directed by Mikhail Red. All screenshots from YouTube/ABS-CBN Star CinemaThe quick answer is no. There are enough stunts in Mikhail Red's riff on the zombie flick to make it a thrilling distraction from the horrors of real life. What's apparent, however, is that the film never really rises above being middling. It's forgettable.

is so preoccupied with reverence for the genre that it forgot to be fun. It thirsts for humor. It hungers for irreverence. What it offers is a by-the-numbers regurgitation of every trope in the zombie playbook. From the opening sequence that teases of some viral epidemic to the overall conceit of characters struggling to survive a school-bound zombie apocalypse, the film is clearly attempting to conjure a novelty in a sub-genre that has been rehashed to death.

It does too little of its conceit of containing its horrors within a university that supposedly represents the world outside. There is a noble attempt to explore the stark divisions that could have made the succeeding pandemonium more meaningful, but Red discards almost everything for lazy zombie chases and trite familial drama.

Julia Barretto, on the other hand, is unconvincing as an action star. There is a sense that Red seems to be cooking up sequels that would hopefully have his characters go beyond their very shallow beginnings and motivations, but ifis any indication, there is very little in its world-building to explore for further stories.isn’t a bad film.

It is competently made. However, given that it is essentially a foray into a fad, it could have done more to be unique, to be more memorable. As it is, it's just another face in the crowd.Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas' Tirad Pass.

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