World War Z by Max
(son of Mel) Brooks has been sitting on my iPad waiting to be read. I opted to
wait for the movie’s release, so that I would not be disappointed by
Hollywood’s mistreatment of another book-turned-movie. Not yet having read the
book, I can only judge this Marc Forster affair on its own merits.
After Night of theLiving Dead and all its reanimated sequels, 28 Days Later, Zombieland,
Shaun of the Dead (funny zombies), Dead Snow (Nazi Zombies), Resident Evil (video game zombies), and
of course television’s The Walking Dead,
was there anything new to say? World War
Z finds a way to be both fresh and frightening amidst all the hype.
Here are the main ingredients that
make World War Z worth sampling: (1)
Terrifying Zombies, (2) Reluctant Hero, (3) Plausible and Convincing Plot, (4)
Location, Location, Location.
Traditionally, zombies are slow and
plodding but their numbers overwhelm most unarmed and defenseless populations.
The well armed, the preppers, the Israelis, ought to find a means to survive.
These zombies are something different all together. Even faster and more agile
than the zombies of 28 Days Later, the
zombies of World War Z are everything
that is most horrifying about this version of the apocalypse. Though I’m not
quite sure how a reanimated corpse attains such strength and speed, I’m willing
to suspend disbelief, at least for a little while.
Brad Pitt is the perfect reluctant
hero, who wants nothing more than to protect his family. He has the qualities
that make for a true action star, with the dramatic chops to appear more the vulnerable
every man than the action heroes portrayed by Stallone or Schwarzenegger. It
makes it easy to like Gerry Lane (though he can be a bit whiny about his family). Working for his former boss at the UN, he sets out to save the world but really he just wants to save his family.
An original zombie plot is not an
easy thing to come by; maybe it doesn't even exist anymore. World War Z goes for the simplest story
line: Strange new disease appears ravaging the world, transforming the human
populace into crazed, bloodthirsty animals, without intelligence, only
following their basest instincts. Solution? Find patient zero, manufacture a
vaccine, save what’s left of the planet. Easy, right? Brad Pitt plays the
former UN investigator pressed to accompany a Harvard epidemiologist, who is
the world’s best hope to find a cure.
World
War Z uses the big screen to perfect effect. From wide-open cityscapes in
Philadelphia, Newark, and Jerusalem, to the tightly enclosed spaces in a
battleship, jetliner, and WHO research facility. Director Marc Forster
manipulates each of these to tell his story, with fear and terror,
disappointment and relief, and the occasional tender moment thrown in for
contrast. Locations help dictate pace as the movie shifts from tight, tension
filled spaces to heart-pounding races to escape.
Now, more than before, I’m ready to
read the book. I hope it’s as good as the movie.
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