2013, Paramount, Marc Foster, with Brad Pitt, 97 minutes
Despite my aversion to zombie and vampire stuff here I drown in our pre-apocalyptic entertainment angst. I’ve been sucked in; a hypnotized video geek being given free hits of audio-visual dope by the neighborhood DVD pusher.
My first thought is that WWZ is the exact opposite of The Walking Dead, tackling the same subject [our terror of pandemic and loss of identity and social attachment] from the top echelon of power. In The Walking Dead we see the zombie apocalypse from the gutter of America, in WWZ from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.
Of course, with any movie whose backers spend the money it takes to get our most popular leading man in the role, the acting and special effects are all top notch. The action was perfectly paced and the ‘zombies on crack’, of ‘zeeks’ as the U.S. troopers in Korea called them, were high-speed horrific. I would not even bother reviewing such a mainstream flick if not for the two aspects that intrigue me about such movies.
How was the writing from a sci-fi perspective?
I thought it was excellent given the time constraint placed on a 90-minute movie [in literary terms a novelette], with attention paid to the logistical problem of investigating a high speed pandemic spread through airline traffic.
How about the ending, the aspect of story-telling most often compromised to appeal to modern movie goers?
I won’t give it away. But I was holding out for a five-star rating until the last ten minutes.
One, the movie is 80% than the book. Two, the ending was crafted to make way for a sequel (hence it's ambiguous nature). From my readings about the movie (curious because I read the book) this is hoped to be an action franchise for Brad Pitt (think the Bourne series). Agree with your rating of WWZ and sentiments on modern zombie flicks. IMO, the best of the modern zombie movies are 28 Days Later and it's sequel 28 Weeks Later. Good horror action flicks that do an excellent job with the science. Unlike say, The Walking Dead.
I really liked 28 Days Later—very mature I thought. Thanks for the heads up about the sequel. I look forward to being educated about material I review here. When I review something [book, movie, etc.] I do no research, just review the product I have in hand. Any time a reader can add something it's a big plus.