World War Z (Movie)
I am warring with myself about World War Z. The original story was written as a compilation of short stories with a reporter named Gerry Lane. I definitely think it is a defining piece of literature that sparked a increase in the lore of the whole zombie schtick. The book is heads and tails better than Walking Dead (and I like the Walking Dead). The movie had NONE of that, just the title.
As a remake of the book it was an F (not even a D- because by using the title it LIED). As a stand alone movie it was decent blockbuster/summer movie. The plot wasn't incredibly complicated, there really was barely a plot. It was mostly a movie to show different locales and different special effects. Then again, isn't that what a summer popcorn movie is about?
In addition to the normal flaws, there were a few additional ones that bear mention. The first was physics itself. Let's start with the "anthill" effect that the zombies would do climbing up. Even insects like ants have a limit and they have a hard outer shell. I doubt mightily that human body can swarm up 10-20 stories in the air. Especially since they were showing the zombies not being crushed into a puddle blood.
Another example was the grenade on the plane. A plane that is pressurized will not blow out people like they always show. There was even a Mythbusters that was based on this. The most you could hope for was the explosion would blow out some people, and maybe some would fall when the wall was blown out. This was just another small issue I had.
Lets move onto the medical science. First, lets get rid of the idea that there is any known virus or bacteria could control a dead body. The science bothers me and I have never heard anything that would convince me. I think honestly these sort of things should leave it up to the imagination. I realize there is some interest in the idea of how it travels, but I mostly think it would be better not to tie it down in the movie/book (although if I ever do run that RPG campaign based in a zombie world I might readdress this).
The second part that bugged me medically was by far the worst part. The idea that zombies ignore people who are terminally ill seems both stupid and weird deus ex machina. Why wouldn't the zombies utilize all bodies? There seemed to be no other use for the zombies but to overwhelm the humans. Its not like there are different stages of zombies, or a pure desire to repopulate. Why would zombies fear a disease WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY DEAD. That seems to be the ultimate in terminal illness issues. So without a deeper reason why they avoid sick people that was what really dragged the movie down.
The explanation that a zombie "senses" if someone is sick and determines if they attack them makes no sense to me. The movie portrayed the zombies hunted things they could see and hear. This would explain why the singing in Israel interested them, and why they would attack people in cars that are rolled up but could see through the glass. There is no way I can figure that a zombie could detect if someone is sick or not when they are in a rolled up car. It seems if they don't want to waste their energy infecting a sick person, why would they risk destroying multiple bodies on someone they can't even see clearly. So I hated the ending of the movie.
However, just the action level itself was decent, pacing was fairly good and I really really liked the Israeli Defense Force soldier Segen (played by actress Daniella Kertesz). A side effect is I felt old as Daniella was born the same year I graduated high school.
Overall it was a B- or C+. I would have been disappointed at the movies, but a Netflix DVD it wasn't bad. I would recommend it for a single sitting. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it though.
Now if they would only really remake World War Z (or maybe I need to listen to the audio book that was rereleased with something like 12 more chapters). Maybe I will do a bigger movie review on my blog... muahahahahaha...
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