Starring Brad Pitt
Directed by Marc Forster
Shot for a little over $100K some 45 years ago, George A. Romeros Night of the Living Dead still stands as the most famous zombie movie ever made. Conversely, with a budget that swelled to over $200 million thanks to mismanagement and extensive reshoots, Marc Forsters World War Z may go down as the most infamous.
Ultimately, Max Brooks smart 2006 novel is just the inspiration for the film that shares its name. Gone are the firsthand accounts of the zombie uprising from ordinary citizens, replaced by the exploits of generic action hero Gerry Lane, played by Brad Pitt.
Forsters film bears many telltale signs that its been tinkered with, whether its Matthew Foxs role being reduced to mere seconds or a completely reshot ending being so sloppily grafted that it sticks out like a decomposing thumb.
Everything that Foster gets right example: a zombie assault aboard a commercial aircraft is offset by something spectacularly wrongheaded example: frequently cutting to Gerrys wife (Mireille Enos), whos simply sitting by the phone.
Admittedly, the zombie apocalypse was never going to be pretty. But did it really have to be such a mess?
