The latest trailer for World War Z has been released by Paramount today. The Brad Pitt-starring, Brad Pitt-produced Max Brooks adaptation is due in theaters this June after its Christmas 2012 release was postponed following myriad production difficulties, reshoots and rewrites. You can view the new trailer below, provided Paramount doesn’t yank it from the web again. I mean, what studio likes promoting their movies, anyway?
Now, I’ve read Max Brooks’ World War Z, and this is not Max Brooks’ World War Z. It’s a shame that this adaptation feels so unlike its source material because Brooks’ book, with its structure alone, could have made for a really interesting zombie film. It seems now that the rights have simply been tied up and abused to add just another Snyder-influenced I Am Legend clone to the shuffling shamblers’ cinematic canon.
Oh, yeah, ‘cept they’re not shuffling or shambling, because 2004 happened. No, that’s a minor gripe, honestly. I can get past zombies ignoring the effects of necrosis so long as they’re sprinting from one end to the other of a good movie. World War Z does not look to be a good movie though.
In paper form, it was unlike anything the bestseller list had ever seen. Unfortunately, Brad Pitt’s World War Z looks far too much like things we’ve already seen, and tired of, long ago. Even its trailer, loaded with those bass bombs and brass blares, feels overfamiliar. I can’t say the “we are America, and we’re going to kick this thing’s ass” element of the film is likely to appeal to audiences either. I will grant that the closing moments of airbound tension could be pretty cool, but they certainly don’t look capable of saving a film already under fire for its poor special effects and lack of general justification for existing.
Am I being too harsh, or am I right in thinking World War Z looks like it just doesn’t care? Comment below.
