It was always going to be a challenge for whoever tried to adapt Max Brooks’ highly regarded book into a ninety minute film, but the adaptation of World War Z may now be just another one of those (very loosely) ‘based on’ films.
The internet has gone ballistic over a Paramount statement summarising the film’s plot. A plot that appears to deviate considerably from Brooks’ source novel.
Here’s the synopsis of the film from Paramount;
‘The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.’
Anyone that has read World War Z will know that the book chronicles the aftermath of the war, with Brooks’ almost invisible reporter trotting the globe to discover the reasons why the zombie war happened. From the statement, the film’s plot seems to be heading towards an involvement in the war, and an emphasis on stopping the pandemic, rather than learning lessons from it.
It could all be just a huge misunderstanding. After all, it is only the film’s story condensed into 36 words. We can only hope it won’t turn out to be just a big-budget zombie B-movie, we’ve got Bruce Campbell for that. In any case, we’ll still have THE WALKING DEAD.
Directed by Marc Forster (QUANTUM OF SOLACE), World War Z commences on the 21st December 2011.
