A Waste of Good Source Material

Rating: 4/10 (6 February 2014)

As a fan of the book, it pains me to have this be its only big-screen face.
First, let me say something about the book. It has a very unusual structure, as it is not about one person but rather a collection of short stories about the zombie apocalypse. Because it is done in this way, it gives a global sense of the undead war and the effect it had on the world. So what did they do for the movie? Make it entirely about one person! The movie stars Brad Pitt as Jerry, an ex-UN official. Why they couldn't have used one of the male characters from the book is anyone's guess. Anyway, Jerry and his family are caught up in an apocalypse that comes about because of fast-moving, semi-intelligent zombies (as opposed to the slow-moving, mindless creatures of the book). He is rescued by some black government dude, who wants him to go on a round-the-world trip, based on the flimsiest hunches possible, to find a cure.
This movie hurts me, on a fundamental level. Not because of the bad CG. Not because Brad Pitt plays the blandest character since Hal Jordan. But because a book, an amazing piece of literature that redefined the entire concept of a zombie apocalypse, has been dumbed down into a pandering, dull action movie with inconsistent writing and a mind-numbing conclusion.
And it seems the writers were aware of these differences to the source material, because they keep making references to the book so they can maintain the pretense of this being an adaptation. But they even manage to screw that up! From changing the name that the military had for the zombies to letting the zombies into Israel, the whole thing feels like the equivalent of those high-budget, teen-targeted horror movie remakes.