World War Z - Blu-ray Review

'If zombies are always a metaphor then, then at least Forster maintains the book's treatment of them as indicative of a world which might be about to tear itself apart via isolation, competition and deliberate misunderstanding.'

Popular wisdom dictates that there is very little similarity between World War Z the book and World War Z the film and, indeed, at least in the plotting and character stakes, save for a few quite minor points, that proves the case.

Look slightly closer though and there is at least a smattering of a thematic link. One of the main things I took from the book was not necessarily the fanboy-like obsession with postulating on how nations would cope with a zombie uprising but rather that, amongst a quite cynical world, it was a novel in which the central problem was solved, eventually, by nations clubbing together. Maybe WWZ the film doesn't quite make that fact as plain as Max Brooks' novel does, but Marc Forster's film at least has it in the background. I don't think it's an accident that a Spanish-speaking family are the first to shelter Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and family, whilst later they reside on a US boat with a constant threat of being kicked off it. The enemy may be closer than it appears.

If zombies are always a metaphor then, then at least Forster maintains the book's treatment of them as indicative of a world which might be about to tear itself apart via isolation, competition and deliberate misunderstanding. Gerry's globe-hopping might seem to take place with the speed of a Harry Potter flight but it at least partially maintains the book's feeling of travelling everywhere on a comprehensive research project.

That is, until, Forster arrives at his much-disputed end, which feels like it is from a different film, namely: Resident Evil. Having so successfully, in the main, managed to craft something which takes us to a myriad of places, to finish up once again in white clinical corridors, face-to-face with individual zombies, feels like not only a miss-step but something of a real error.

It was always going to be difficult to draw a line under this - especially if the mooted sequel is to arise - but doing so in this way feels borderline crazy and distinctly unsatisfying. Still, for arguably one of the most 'unfilmable' books out there, a messy end, a ballooning budget and on-set arguments aren't too bad going, for a film at least semi-satisfying.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.