It is hard to review World War Z without writing an existential, comparative essay on the disparity between adaptations and original movies. World War Z, directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) is the movie adaptation of the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War written by Max Brooks (The Zombie Survival Guide). The face value comparison of the titles of the two different mediums surprisingly shed a lot of light on what to expect from either of them. The novel takes a historical perspective through the lens of protagonist Max Brooks as he interviews people around the world after the war against the zombies. The book has little to no input from Max and focuses on the short stories of the world and the impact of the war on those that tell their stories.The movie follows United Nations employee Gerry Lane played by Brad Pitt, as he races to find a solution to the zombie pandemic raging around the world. Motivated by the need to keep his family under the protection of what remains of the United States Government, Gerry travels around the world overcoming a multitude of obstacles.

This is just scratching the surface of the differences between the two titles. The book explores a global perspective and deals with death, religion, politics and goes deeper into themes of isolationism, what it takes to survive, the despair of uncertainty and many, many more. The movie takes a global perspective, however, its attempts to deals with such themes are much more confusing and haphazard. It never quite grabs the viewer emotionally or intellectually or even attempts to make any type of commentary. This is what made the book exceptional, and why fans of the books looking for a film that stays true to the source material, will be sorely disappointed. However, this is a review for those who have read the book. For those who have not, please see below.

As a stand alone movie World War Z takes a direction that is at times surprisingly refreshing in the over-saturated market of zombies. Zombies today permeate almost every medium of entertainment from movies to gaming and everything in between. So despite World War Z being just another zombie movie, it does at times, do something that has not been done elsewhere in the genre quite as well. The action is jaw-dropping and the zombies are terrifying. The movie does a great job of creating fear in the audience. There are scenes in which hundreds of thousands of zombies swarm the screen or a single zombie is present, and yet each and every single time you will find yourself at the edge of your seat. Brad Pitt also does a decent job as the hero of the movie. Possessing both brain and brawn, Pitt’s plays an everyman that is fighting to keep his family safe no matter what the cost to himself. This is also one of the major flaws in the film.

The movies pace is so jarringly fast you only ever care for Pitt’s character. The rest of the characters in the movie exist as very 1-dimensional characters willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the plot. This creates an atmosphere that is very hard to swallow and requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. This drags down an otherwise good summer action flick and makes the film a decent popcorn movie.

Overall the book should never have been adapted into a movie. It’s serial nature would make it more suitable for a television show or a web-series. As a movie, World War Z is a decent action movie that has its own unique take on zombies. This is a very rare case in which my recommendation is: if you have not read the book, watch the movie then read the book. If you have read the book, then just stick to the book because you are bound to be disappointed.

Do you agree with my review of World War Z? Was I too nice or did I not give it enough credit? Is this expected when a book is adapted as movie or was it an all out marketing gimmick? Follow me on Twitter and lets chat.

Hammad Fasih