Hello, boys and girls! Tragically, I've been away from the movies for a couple months, but now I'm back and, you guessed it, it's time once again for an edition of Fix-It-Friday! This time we're taking on the zombie romp of World War Z! I'm not going to talk about how it relates to the book - instead treating the movie as its own special snowflake - but be warned: **HERE BE SPOILERS.**
Ready?
All righty then. Let's do this.
For the record, I want to start by saying that I really liked this movie. Fun, fast-paced, actiony, and fascinating to think about in a what-would-happen-if-the-zombie-apocalypse-really-happened kind of way. However. There were a couple moments in the film that were so jaw-droppingly moronic, it was hard to pole-vault past the chasms they left in my plausability.
Moment #1: When the hero (who is struggling to find the origin of the horrible epidemic and a way of fighting the zombies and/or curing the world) has a realization that could potentially save the world should he A) TELL SOMEONE ABOUT IT because he could die at any moment, B) TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT because they could help him test this theory and implement the cure/solution that much faster, thereby saving tons of lives, or C) Ask where the nearest WHO office is because he needs to fly there and nearly die ten times and investigate it himself after long periods of unconsciousness before telling anyone about this potentially world saving idea? Guess which one Brad Pitt did. Yep. C. That is so far beyond stupid my brain just shut off in protest.
THE FIX: The purpose of this seemed to be to keep the focus of the story on Brad's journey to save the world. So the fix is simple. Just have his cell phone battery die two minutes earlier. Cut off communication. Force him to locate the WHO office on his own rather than phoning his boss for the info. Easy peasy. (You still have to explain why he wouldn't use the airplane's radio to spread the word, but maybe the pilots won't let him.)
Moment #2: The second instance isn't quite so egregious, but it did seem frankly ridiculous. When he wakes up in the WHO building which was his goal all along and they ask him who he is - why doesn't he just tell them? He's not a criminal. He's an investigator for the UN trying to find the cure. They probably aren't going to shoot him on sight. Why not give them his name? Why not tell them who he works for? Why didn't the doctors ask the woman he came in with who he was? She was perfectly conscious and hadn't been handcuffed to any beds. Why didn't they uncuff him when they realized he wasn't going to turn all zombie?
THE FIX: That whole batch of ridiculousness seemed to be geared around forcing him to use the (magically recharged) cell phone to call his boss and discover that his wife was no longer being protected. But wouldn't he call his wife and boss immediately after discovering the phone had magically been recharged anyway? So why was the whole verbal pissing match of I'm-not-going-to-give-you-my-name even necessary? What was the point? Just have him wake up to the doctors knowing who he is and being ready to help him - because they are just that desperate for people who might have a direction toward the cure. Or if not that, at least explain why not.
There were some other small wobbles - why didn't he ask any questions about the first guy he met who the Zombies miraculously ignored? Why doesn't he wear the anti-bite padding all over his body rather than just on his forearms? Why is no one using flame-throwers if fire works against them? Napalm? Why are none of the soldiers wearing body armor to keep from getting bitten? Why the cognitive dissonance in the last shot when he's doing a voice-over about the terrible war as he's hugging his family? - but for the most part, the rest of the movie was pure zombie fun.
What do you think? Is this the end of the Zombie trend? After Zombieland and Warm Bodies, have we finally reached the peak of Zombie Season?
Ready?
All righty then. Let's do this.
Moment #1: When the hero (who is struggling to find the origin of the horrible epidemic and a way of fighting the zombies and/or curing the world) has a realization that could potentially save the world should he A) TELL SOMEONE ABOUT IT because he could die at any moment, B) TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT because they could help him test this theory and implement the cure/solution that much faster, thereby saving tons of lives, or C) Ask where the nearest WHO office is because he needs to fly there and nearly die ten times and investigate it himself after long periods of unconsciousness before telling anyone about this potentially world saving idea? Guess which one Brad Pitt did. Yep. C. That is so far beyond stupid my brain just shut off in protest.
THE FIX: The purpose of this seemed to be to keep the focus of the story on Brad's journey to save the world. So the fix is simple. Just have his cell phone battery die two minutes earlier. Cut off communication. Force him to locate the WHO office on his own rather than phoning his boss for the info. Easy peasy. (You still have to explain why he wouldn't use the airplane's radio to spread the word, but maybe the pilots won't let him.)
Moment #2: The second instance isn't quite so egregious, but it did seem frankly ridiculous. When he wakes up in the WHO building which was his goal all along and they ask him who he is - why doesn't he just tell them? He's not a criminal. He's an investigator for the UN trying to find the cure. They probably aren't going to shoot him on sight. Why not give them his name? Why not tell them who he works for? Why didn't the doctors ask the woman he came in with who he was? She was perfectly conscious and hadn't been handcuffed to any beds. Why didn't they uncuff him when they realized he wasn't going to turn all zombie?
THE FIX: That whole batch of ridiculousness seemed to be geared around forcing him to use the (magically recharged) cell phone to call his boss and discover that his wife was no longer being protected. But wouldn't he call his wife and boss immediately after discovering the phone had magically been recharged anyway? So why was the whole verbal pissing match of I'm-not-going-to-give-you-my-name even necessary? What was the point? Just have him wake up to the doctors knowing who he is and being ready to help him - because they are just that desperate for people who might have a direction toward the cure. Or if not that, at least explain why not.
There were some other small wobbles - why didn't he ask any questions about the first guy he met who the Zombies miraculously ignored? Why doesn't he wear the anti-bite padding all over his body rather than just on his forearms? Why is no one using flame-throwers if fire works against them? Napalm? Why are none of the soldiers wearing body armor to keep from getting bitten? Why the cognitive dissonance in the last shot when he's doing a voice-over about the terrible war as he's hugging his family? - but for the most part, the rest of the movie was pure zombie fun.
What do you think? Is this the end of the Zombie trend? After Zombieland and Warm Bodies, have we finally reached the peak of Zombie Season?
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