By my parents' bed is a small amount of books. Some talk of business, some classic comics. But there is one book that my dad has been making me read - a book that I never really caught interest in because I was too busy crying over John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and waving my ballpen as I reread the Harry Potter series. Hell, I was even cooped in my room, pounding the various algebraic expressions in my head.
Finally, I gave in to my dad's request and picked up the book. The title read World War Z, written by Max Brooks. From what I understood, the Zombie War was going on and all around aside from the spreading of the zombie infection were geo-political people, tales of the religious, and massive shifts all around the world. Although I was not able to finish it, I was surprised when my dad told me a few months later that a movie was in the works.
Around two weeks ago, my family went out to watch a movie. My brother and I wanted to see Monsters' University, but my dad insisted on watching World War Z, which was newly released. Prior to watching, my dad told me that the movie adaption was nothing like the movie. So, all my knowledge from the book was wiped clean. However, he went on, even though the movie wasn't faithful to the book, he had researched and found out that surprisingly, a large amount of critics liked it.
So that brought my hopes up. I nestled in my seat, dug into my french fries and soda, and eventually, the movie started playing in front of my eyes.
Before I go on, let me tell you: THEY WERE RIGHT.
If you plan on watching the movie because you've read the book and actually expect the movie to be faithful to the book, don't. Seriously, don't. Or just water down your expectations and then watch.
See, the book tells of different experiences. There really is no clear protagonist or antagonist (well, aside from the zombies that is), round or static character, no. The book is basically a compiled journal of some sorts, of people telling their expierences and additional information about the world around them. To put an extremely large contrast, though, the film introduces Gerry Lane (Pitt), ex United Nations Investigator called in to work on this strange epidemic that's fastly infecting the rest of the world.
The book focuses not on the zombies, but on the living. The surivors. The humans. The people trying to live right after the horrible events, basically. But here in the movie, you're shown the story of Lane, trying to discover a possible antidote just so that his family can safely live in the limited headquarters. The movie is full of action - rushing and travelling and running and killing the zombies without actually showing the horrible, gross zombie blood.
While you guys scratch your heads and wonder why the hell there wasn't actual gore presented (as gore is one of the scare factors needed for a zombie film) you've gotta understand that not all people are put off by gore. Not all people scream once someone's head is sliced off, or when someone impales a zombie with some kind of rake they were able to find. In fact, some people laugh at those things.
The real scary thing about the movie (plotwise), really, were the zombies and the effects of the whole zombie pandemic.
Did you seriously see those zombies. For those who haven't watched the movie, THOSE THINGS MOVE FAST.
If you weren't horrified by this scene...I don't know anymore.
I mean, the zombies in the Walking Dead? Slow, gory, they walk until you shoot them in the head. But these zombies are freaking fast and they don't have their internal organs spilling all over the place. When they bite you, you're dead in ten seconds unless you chop off the bitten part.
I have plans on finishing the book soon when I have the time, that is and when I'm done, I can watch the movie again and see what I prefer more.
But the movie was great - it was full of action and tension and sometimes you wanted to bang your head on the wall because DUDE THE ZOMBIES MIGHT KILL YOU. And the ending was alright. I liked how the movie was so fast-paced, and then it carried slowly to a calming end. But hey, it really isn't the end, you know?
Right after the movie, I was told that there would be a sequel in the works.
Well. Who knows? Maybe the movie would be faithful to the book this time.
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