Review of World War Z (2013) by Mudget — 02 Sep 2013

When Romero made Night of the Living Dead in 1968, he introduced a horror that was akin to the haunted house of a theme park. Zombies were a slow, marauding, creeping dread. When his movies were remade in the 90's and 00's, the dread of the haunted house was replaced by the adrenaline rush of a roller coaster ride.

Suddenly zombies were fast. Critical scholars might point to the exponentially quickening feeling of society and its developments and problems leading to the shift. On television people are bombarded by endless waves of information and propaganda, tickers scroll by in all corners saying this or that.

We've become conditioned to need things to be moving fast, lots of moving and shiny parts, to be appealing on a large scale. I can't think of a movie in recent years that has done this part better than World War Z.

Its special effects are almost flawless, we see zombies behaving as a hive species, using their bodies to create more efficient means of transportation, much like ants do. The technical achievement is stunning, as are the visions of a world thrown into explosive chaos.

My eyes darted around the screen constantly, trying to process as much that was going on as possible. The sheer pace of the movie never allowed my adrenaline to completely drop. This was a roller coaster ride.

I'm actually surprised it didn't garner an 'R' rating it's a very aggressive, shocking movie in parts and although it spares the gallons of blood seen in its counterparts, scenes of people being smashed under cars, having an arm cut off, yanking teeth out I guess I just find it humorous and telling that a movie with a few boobs would get an R, while this stayed at PG13.

Anyway, that's an aside. It's a good movie, a total popcorn flick. Pitt is okay (I never really think Pitt is anything better than okay, for an example of why I think he'll never be a 'good' actor just see his reaction to his daughter at the beginning when she asks him what 'martial law' means).

But he's eye candy and he does carry the movie with a certain soulful charm. Direction, great set pieces phenomenal, action almost unprecedented. Which brings me to story. Despite liking this movie quite a bit, it bears no real resemblance to Max Brook's infinitely superior book of the same title.

An indie movie like 'The Bay' did a better job of segmenting contributing storylines into a coherent whole, and I would have loved to have seen a more literal interpretation of Brooks' book. I think they could have done wonders with it and truly made the zombie movie of zombie movies.

Instead, they went a different route, opting against the slow dreadful creeping global menace, captured by individual stories of survival and, well, they went for the rollercoaster. They manage to have Pitt globetrotting, so they do capture the 'flavor' of different regions of the world, but in the movie it's really all one flavor, while the book had very different 'feeling' settings, accentuated by interesting cultural-specific nuances and behaviors.

That's what made the concept work for me, and they didn't pull it over into the filmed version. Had they called this movie something else, I would have been more impressed, because the remaining links to the book are mere strands.

Plus, I'll personally always be more frightened of the menacing dread of a lumbering zombie, to the adrenaline rush of a fast one. So this movie is a mixed bag. It's a good action flick, it'll keep you glued to your seat, and you'll feel you got your money's worth.

It's a decent addition to the zombie genre turning zombies into swarm predators isn't new but it's never been done on this scale or with this much style. But as an interpretation of Brooks' book, it's pretty sad.

I can't imagine the author is happy with where this went. The masses will love it, fans of the original will wonder what happened to their book. The absolutely blatant foreshadowing of sequels means Brooks' already-classic zombie yarn will likely continue to be raped for years to come.

I will be in the front row, and moaning the whole time while I get my guilty jollies.