World War Z

I want to make one thing very clear from the get-go. I have not seen the film, nor do I have any intention of doing so. Not even waiting for rental, as I don't really want to spend any money on it, so I think I'll be waiting for Netflix. Now I'll tell you why, and it's quite simple: It's because I read the book.

Yes, it's actually based on a book. You'd never know it, though. Aside from the title, it shares absolutely nothing in common with the apparent "source material". We've seen movies like this before, of course.. film adaptations based on books that are drastically different from the source material as to piss off the fans of the books. But even then, despite the "oh, it just has the same name" argument that book fans use, those films usually have at least some elements from the book. That could be character names, the overall plot arc, or some minor details or character moments here and there, etc.

In this case, though, there's none of that. Literally, none. What little there was originally was excised when they decided to reshoot the entire last act of the film. And when all was said and done, it really was just the name that stuck around.

Well, you could argue that they both have zombies. But even that's not entirely true. In the book, we're presented with the more traditional walking dead.. the slow, rotting corpse mumbling "braaaaaaains" as it shuffles slowly after our heroes. Okay, I made that last bit up about the mumbling, but you get the idea. They're classic zombies. In the film, however, they're presented more like the victims of the rage virus from 28 Days Later, super-fast and incredibly violent, with hundreds and thousands of them flowing over the cities like a flood (while it's a cool effect, it does rather boggle the mind).

So, out of my desire to support the author of the book, I choose not to spend any of my hard-earned money to see World War Z.

Now, while we're on the subject, I do have an idea as to how the book could be successfully adapted. But not into a film. I don't think there's any way to really adapt this into a two-hour film that will make a gazillion dollars on opening weekend. It's just not that kind of book. My idea is simple: A television series.

You see, the book is written from the point of view of a survivor of the Zombie War, who has collected incredible stories of survival from around the entire world, of mankind really stretched to the ragged edge and the amazing things that these people did to make it through it. As a TV series, you could actually do each of these stories, documentary-style, with each episode of the show focused on a different story, from a different perspective, all connected by the crew putting together the documentary and the interviewer, who would take the place of the original book's fictitious "author". You could still make an amazing zombie show out of it by doing in-universe "dramatic reenactments" of the events as told, so we'd actually get to see these people's stories unfold in classic zombie style.

Seriously, if you're a fan of the genre, and you have the chance, you owe it to yourself to read the book. But be forewarned: If you've only seen the film and want to get more, the book will probably not be what you're looking for. It's far better, in my opinion, but don't expect anything of the film to be there.