Great addition to the zombie film genre but the real essence of the novel got lost along the way.
Retired United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) reluctantly leaves his family behind in order to find a cure for the zombie pandemic that is plaguing the whole world. Simple as that actually. The novel on the other hand is much more complicated.
One of the main differences between the film and the novel is the way it is presented to the viewer/reader. In the film, we watch Gerry Lane travel the world in search for the cure. It all happens in the present. The novel on the other hand is a collection of different stories from different people who lived throughout the ten year war against the zombies. So it's flashback vs. real-time. Another difference is that in the novel, there is no main character. Lots of stories, different people, one war. So fleshing out a character from the complicated novel must have been quite difficult but worth the effort. Lastly, the most important difference would probably have to be the novel's social commentary on...society (duh...) The movie was an action film while the book was a satire. So sadly, I did not enjoy the movie as much as I wanted to. I expected so much from it since I liked the book so much.
To be clear, the movie was good, just not a good adaptation from the book. The only thing that the movie and the book share in common is the title. It would have been better to make a movie separate from the book but stated that it was inspired by it. It makes no sense to make a movie based on a book but not staying faithful to the novel's content.
As earlier mentioned, one of the things that I appreciated in the film was them fleshing out a solid character from the book. After reading the book a few months ago, it really made me wonder how are they going to tell the story and who will be the character to tell it. Brad Pitt greatly plays the role of a retired UN employee, Gerry Lane. Gerry is our eyes and he shows us how the world would turn out to be if ever such catastrophe happens. Through him, we see how the world reacts to such threat. The movie might not have been satirical enough like the book but it is not entirely void of social criticisms.
World War Z is definitely bringing something new in the genre of zombie films. It's different and unique unlike the repetitive, and some even unoriginal, zombie films that have been released since George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. I really love how the film approaches the Man vs. Nature concept. What made this entirely different from most of the other zombie films out there is that for once, we have protagonists that use their brain against the undead who don't.
The film is pretty good in keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. The thrilling scenes definitely make up for the movie's lack of gore and blood. Choosing the 'eerie silence' for the thrills keep the heart pumping and the audience vulnerable. The film tries to connect the character and the audience. It makes the audience want to feel what the character is feeling. Once the moment the silence is broken and the zombies would pop out will definitely surprise everyone. Okay maybe not everyone, since some of them fall into cheap scares territory but most of them are pretty effective nonetheless.
One thing I noticed about the movie is that it feels racist. I'm pretty sure it's not just me. As usual, in the end of the world scenario, the Americans are always the hero. I have nothing against Americans but majority of Apocalyptic films consider America to be the hero. Can't really blame them though since this is a Hollywood film after all. Again, I'm going to use the novel as my reference but in the book, USA had it real tough during the first few years of the war against the zombies, but in this movie, it only takes a few days for an American to find something to turn the tide against a global threat. My concern is not only the American influence in the movie but also the portrayal of the other countries' fates on the hands of the plague. But if I have to choose one scene where it showed racism would probably have to be the scene in Israel where the zombies managed to scale through the wall because of the noise made by the Jews.
Brad Pitt's acting on the other hand is worth praising. Although I'm pretty sure that if the character is played out by another actor then it wouldn't work. Why? Well, character development is present but it isn't exactly stressed out. It's almost unnoticeable. Having Brad Pitt as the lead actor might have just been its saving grace.
The cinematography and editing were nice. The score was haunting as well. Perfect fit for this movie. Have to at least give a few rounds of applause to Director Marc Forster for being able to pull off such a film. The movie, if you guys don't know, suffered a lot of setbacks and changes to it before it's finally shown to us. From changes of scripts, to changes in schedule and budgeting, the movie production was probably a hellish nightmare for everyone but kuddos for them for surviving their own plague.
All in all, the movie is good but the title 'World War Z' from the novel is just dead weight.
Rating: 3/5
