A Reel Opinion: THE WORLD WAR Z Uproar

This week, fans of the zombie-apocalypse novel WORLD WAR Z became irate enough to eat brains when they received some dismaying news concerning the now-filming movie adaptation starring Brad Pitt. The news, by way of a news release from Paramount, gave a short synopsis of the plot which, according to fans, is a major departure from the novel. The book, which is a collection of first-person accounts of the completed zombie-war, seems to be getting its unique narrative traded in for a typical Hollywood zombie-splatter flick.

It is naive to think that any book adapted to film will escape any sort of alterations or cuts; characters will go away, places will disappear, dialogue will be altered, and yes, plots will change. All this is done, of course, to make for a good film for wide audiences, and not just fans of the source material. In the past, this has been done with great success in GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS (all Oscar winners), which made several cuts of characters and plot. THERE WILL BE BLOOD bears nearly no resemblance whatsoever to its novel (OIL), and the classic JAWS also dropped sub-plots to tighten things up. Recently, the final HARRY POTTER film thankfully traded in long and tedious monologues in favor of more battles (action).

WORLD WAR Z is not set for release until 2012, so by far it’s too early for book nerds to get into an uproar. But if indeed the filmmakers made a major departure, they can be forgiven for just trying to make a film that will appease the masses. What they may have screwed up on however, is letting the project just become another run-of-the-mill zombie film that the world has been overrun with for decades. The novel has long been considered to be “unfilmable”, and it would be disappointing if the filmmakers decided to get around that by ignoring it. It’s damn difficult to view a film objectively when the surroundings are so familiar and tired.

It is also worth noting that Pitt tends to have a lot of creative control in the films he stars in. The near-literal adaptation of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (masterpiece) can be credited mostly to him. Director Marc Forster put together the balls-out-action Bond flick QUANTUM OF SOLACE, but he also did the thoughtful and excellent FINDING NEVERLAND and MONSTERS BALL.

With over a year to go, there is certainly a lot of time for concerns to answered. This blogger just wants a good movie. Just don’t bore me; and that means keep it interesting.

Have faith. Zombies are coming.

What say you?