I finally got around to watching World War Z tonight, and I must say, that it was sadly as expected.

I read the book several years ago, and it was a fantastic piece, focussing on snippets of survival, politics, and social evolution. There was little gore, but it still did not pull its punches, pulling you into the world, and believing that this is how we would react in the various scenarios. It is the point around 'pulling punches' which is the crux of this film failing to be either a good adaptation, or a good zombie flick. I was hoping it would be more like 'World War Z: Gerrys story', and would be the story of one man trying to find patient zero, this could have been how the film would have succeeded.

It might at times seem like it achieves this, but it keeps tracking back to his family, taking away from the character we are supposed to be observing. Also, the family story is often weak, attempting to show peoples concern over the lack of resources due to over-crowding, before brushing it off without showing the emotional damage that would cause. This would have been an interesting story, just in a film of its own, showing a families survival on a military boat where they are not wanted, or needed, but have nowhere else to go.

So, back to Gerry, why does his story erk me so. Well, what was great about the book was how it showed the harsh reality, and how it causes people to evolve. In fact, this is how the best of the Zombie genre works, focussing on people and relationships as opposed to adrenaline and gore. His story was often just jumping from one action scene to another, with just a little dialogue, and even fewer emotional repercussions for his actions. For example, he doesn't put his phone on silent (he is supposed to be experienced in the field, but let's gloss over that one), and this phone going off causes his whole team (bar a co-pilot) to die. At no point does he seem distraught at this fact, or even consider how he should be grateful for surviving at their expense.

Finally, we have the closure. Why did we have to save the day, really? No one wanted that from this film, the glory in these films is often that it might not actually get resolved, we want the character to complete his mission of course (which wasn't to save the world, but get information), and more to hopefully evolve as an individual.

Overall though, whilst not a work of art, the film was watchable, and had some interesting elements to it (viral camouflage and bicycles), so I am glad I watched it. But if you have already enjoyed some good Zombie flicks, this may not be the film for you.