World War Z – A Review

Hi.  My name is Octavia and I like zombies.

I also run some of the biggest zombie websites in the world.  Well, okay, maybe not the biggest, but they do have their place on the web.  You may have heard of a couple of them; www.ZombieMall.com and www.ZombieUniversity.com ?  No?  Well.. crap.  That’s okay, I’m still trying to work on infecting the world with their presence.  But I digress…

When a movie about zombies hits the theaters, it is simply my obligation to go watch.

World War Z is based on the Max Brooks book of the same name.  Yeah, I’ve read that too.  When I first heard that the book was being turned into a movie, my first thought was “huh?  how??!”

Those that have read the book know that it is more of an interview, a diary or journal if you will, of people who have survived the zombie apocalypse and are getting their story set down (for the record).

The movie was going to star Brad Pitt.  The book didn’t really have a main character, and Pitt is such a big name.  He reportedly paid $1 million to Brooks for the rights to make it into a movie.  Pitt was also a producer of the movie, and of course is the main star as well.  So yeah, he’s kindav a big deal.   Surely he is not going to limit himself to just one segment?

Ahhh.. I was starting to be one of the “Oh Ye of Little Faith”.

The movie changes things up a fair amount from the book.  And that’s where a lot of reviews are going to get all negative.  I’m not.  I’m not even going to throw a fit like others have about Damon Lindelof being brought in to “fix” the ending.  I still can’t believe that people continue to give him grief over Prometheus (I for one loved it, but again… I digress…).  He had a hand in the script for Star Trek Into Darkness as well. Though I will certainly admit that there is a very coherent change of pace about 2/3rds of the way into the film.  It is action, action, slow-down.   Which is not necessarily a bad thing.  It allows for the story to catch up with itself.  Let’s also not forget that Drew Goddard also helped with this movie’s script.

While World War Z moves a good ways away from the book, there are several Easter Eggs from the book for you to find, but blink and you will certainly miss some of them.

The zombies are actually referred to as.. well.. “zombies”.  I think that awesome!  So many zombie flicks shy away from that word, but this one embraces it.  Though I will admit that it did not appear that too many people had much zombie training.  Many people get munched, mountains of undead are made and they run fast.  Wait, let me rephrase.. they are Speed Demons!

Their origin …….  Oh, no, I’m not going to spoil that for you (that’s the McGuffin of the film).

The reviews on this movie are VERY mixed.  I’m among the ones that liked it.  It was fun, and if anything it certainly satisfied my itch for zombies until The Walking Dead returns this October.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.