This Has Far More Weaknesses Than Strengths

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2014)

There's no point comparing the book to the novel. At best in any situation that's a fool's game. Movies are movies; novels are novels. They're just an entirely different genre. As much as the criticism that the movie isn't like the book may have validity, it's not really that relevant. Treat this as a movie and consider it on that basis. On that basis, it has both strengths and weaknesses. Let's start with the weaknesses, because they start leaping out right from the start, and they're more numerous.
This seems to be a perfectly normal weekday morning in Philadelphia. There's nothing out of the ordinary. The Lane family wakes up and goes about their business, climbing into the car to head wherever they're all going. The only remotely newsworthy thing happening is a news report about an outbreak of rabies in various parts of the world. There are, however, no reports of problems in the United States. OK. There's a big traffic jam, and no explanation, but Philadelphia's a big city; unexplained traffic jams are probably not uncommon. Then, all of a sudden, with no warning, there are police and military aircraft racing ahead of the traffic jam - and Philadelphia is infested with zombies! Really? With no warning that anything was amiss? Really? I mean, if something was wrong Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) seems like the kind of guy who would have known. He's a former UN Inspector, who certainly has contacts as we learn. But this just pops up suddenly? Implausible at best, and given that it's happening all over US and international cities, just hard to accept. I get that a virus could spread rapidly because of air travel - but this was just too much. Add to that the fact that the "zombies" didn't really scare me all that much and had a bit of a sense of silliness about them, as well as the fact that none of the characters really hit home with me as people I connected with and cared about, and you have serious weaknesses.
The basic strength of the movie is that it is mysterious (partly, I confess, caused by the implausible suddenness of the outbreak) and it is suspenseful, as you wonder whether there's any sort of solution to the outbreak, or whether this is just an ongoing battle against a hopeless situation. But it really would have helped if I had been given a character to care about. Even Pitt's Gerry failed to draw me in to the story. The result was that, Pitt's obvious recognizability aside, the performances here faded into the background.
I'm thinking that zombie lovers will be underwhelmed by this. Personally, if I need a zombie fix, AMC's "The Walking Dead" is actually better. (5/10)