World War Z

I watched the trailer for World War Z.

First, my reservations for the movie.

1. The book is not closely followed. I read (and listened) to the World War Z book and, just from watching the trailer, they departed greatly from the material. Yes, the walking dead are zombies, but they run really fast AND they just up and appeared in New York City. This is a humongous departure from the original written book.

2. This is an action movie. The book is a series of anecdotal stories strung together chronologically and over the course of four years and told by many people who have lived through the plague years. This movie is only going to last for two hours and they will not cover the same scope of material and time.

3. The zombies run really fast. The book repeatedly describes the zombies as shambling undead. If a person kept his or her cool, then the zombies can be defeated in small groups. It's when they are in large numbers that a concerted effort must be made. Running zombies changes that fact and the whole war. The situation gets even more complicated if a head shot is required to kill a zombie; the slow attrition and sense of inevitable doom is removed. I know this is necessary for a two hour movie, but that doesn't mean I like it.

4. Brad Pitt. If they had cast a lesser known actor my enthusiasm might be greater, but then they are banking on Pitt's star power to bring in theater goers and I can respect that decision. Again, I don't like it but the logic is sound.


Now, my hope for the movie.

1. It's an action movie. If you're going to sit in a movie theater for two and more hours, then you better be damn well entertained. So long as the tension stays high and the story continually moves then the audience will continue to buy the premise and stay riveted to their seats.

2. It's a movie. It is a trailer, but from what they showed the film makers seem to have kept to the premise of the book. They made some modifications here and there to keep to making a movie while respecting the material. This is what most book adaptations need and, sadly, don't always receive.

3. They give a glimpse of the global nature of the threat. In most zombie apocalyptic movies the world view is left out of the story telling because the story is centered around a specific locale. Take as an example The Walking Dead. (Either the graphic books or the serialized television series will do.) The zombie threat is limited in the story to the southeastern United States. You might hear a word or two about other areas but the story centers around the group in their very specific locale. You never hear about Europe or Africa or Asia. The trailer shows the main character is a military operative and can get information from the global community, thus we see how bad things are EVERYWHERE. This adds to the tension and the high stakes game the movie is playing.


I'll go to watch a movie, not watch the book. However, I expect to be entertained. I'll walk out if I'm bored.