‘World War Z’ is a book that is dismissed by a lot of people. It’s really more of a hands on look at a world gone wrong and their attempts to rebuild more than a zombie action story.
That’s why many were upset to hear that the film version was going to be exactly that. Brad Pitt starring in a film mainly about fighting zombies on a global scale. Basically taking the title and none of the actual plot.
There is some good news though, Drew Goddard is being brought in to rewrite the crucial third act. Goddard is a Joss Whedon disciple. He worked on the last few seasons of Buffy and the final season of Angel. He wrote ‘Cloverfield,’ a film I believe has been treated unjustly as it has aged and imitators have failed to meet its high mark. Most recently Goddard cowrote (with Whedon) and directed the criminally under seen ‘Cabin In The Woods.’
Hopefully this move is the exact thing WWZ needs to get back on track. I fear it may be too late, but the book deserves a well done film and Goddard is their best bet.
The way to make a World War Z movie that would be true to the spirit of the book would be to do it was a fake documentary. It would have the character of Max Brooks having written the book World War Z interviewing a lot of the same people he “interviewed” in the book mixed with found footage, reenactment, and news footage from the zombie war. That being said, I’ll be fine with the film as long as it is epic in scale. I’ve watched an obscene amount of zombie movies, and the one thing there has never been is a triple A high budget film. As long as I get that, I’ll be happy. That said, I’m pumped for Goddard. What happened to Damon Lindelof, wasn’t he working on the third act? I feel like we dodged a bullet if he is off it (the man cannot write a good third act to save his life).