World War Z premiere to coincide with end of the world

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Temis the Vorta, Aug 10, 2011.

  1. Goliath

    Goliath Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well, it's possible to ruin the book, and still make a good movie. So, not all hope is gone.
     
  2. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    If that on set footage is any judge, then they are going with the *instantaneous* incubation a la 28 Days Later. That completely undermines allot of the basic premises for the whole book and makes it more and more likely that this will be just another (excuse the pun) mindless zombie movie, with a Roland Emmerich style disaster movie slant.
     
  3. Shurik

    Shurik Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  4. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Absolute garbage. At least I'll save money on this generic piece of shit.

    I agree with the article that this would make a much better TV series. It could be done differently than The Walking Dead although it couldn't escape comparisions to that series.

    Forster has plenty of experience in taking something and turning it into generic garbage. He took the Bond series, stripped away all of its elements, and turned into in a generic ripoff of the Jason Borune films. Thus you get Quantum of Suckatude.
     
  5. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Create your own original zombie story and quite ruining other peoples work ya hack.
     
  6. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well said.
     
  7. USS Kongo

    USS Kongo Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I'd watch zombie films, where the zombie outbreak brings about the end of the world, and would often wonder how could such a thing be possible? How could zombies overrun the militaries of the world, especially if the zombies were slow-moving suckers?

    I always loved World War Z because of the detailed and sensible way it explained how the zombies took over the world. It was the first zombie story that told its tale on a global scale; it was truly epic. I had been hoping this might be done as a mini-series, possibly on HBO.

    But, alas.... :rolleyes:

    Oh well, at least we still have the book.

    Sean
     
  8. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Yes we do thank goodness. I'm actually quite fond of the audio book version as well. You can use your imagination to conjure up better visuals than any two-bit Hollywood director anyway.
     
  9. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    I can't add much to what has already been said, but it's very disappointing to hear about all the changes from the book. It could still be a very enjoyable movie, but it's a shame that it's possibly not going to be much more than a shell of the novel that inspired it.

    I understand that the format of the novel demanded changes and omissions to fit a movie format like all adaptations, and I was fine with creating a roaming protagonist at the center of many of the events, but giving in to the urge to use 28 Days Later-type fast zombies with rapid transformation says that they had no faith in the idea that they could make wave upon wave of relentless slow zombies frightening. That's kind of bothersome to me since it shows a lack of imagination (and it wouldn't take much, since the book laid everything out for you) and a need to mimic other recent zombie films.

    Fast zombies with fast transformation changes the whole dynamic of the story. No one would let them on a plane or through a checkpoint to spread the virus. They might be able to take over individual regions, but as soon as you come upon a natural geographical barrier like a mountain range or ocean that's as far as they'll spread. I'm hoping at least they include an long incubation period in the initial infection stage and then it mutates into something worse to justify the rapid transformations.

    I'm also worried that the one article I read about needing an exceptionally long road in Glascow (which is standing in for Philadelphia in the film) doesn't mean that they're going to substitute Philadelphia for the Battle of Yonkers. Why else would you need an extremely long road except to show a tracking shot of the hopelessly large number of zombies heading your way? It could be just long shots of random zombie violence like what was shown in the YouTube videos, though, I guess. It just won't be the same without the Battle of Yonkers, at least, so I hope that makes it.

    Anyway, I'm not going to write off the movie, since Pitt seems dedicated to the project and he usually makes pretty good choices, and even with my misgivings on the changes it can still be a very fun movie. I just don't know if it's going to be World War Z.
     
  10. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I dont know maybe people are prematurely over reacting, as usual. For all we know, maybe the infection and incubation does start slow with slow moving zombies, but as time goes on it mutates at an accelerated rate with the eventual fast moving variety. Maybe we should reserve judgement when something more concrete comes out like a trailer.
     
  11. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    Nah, I'm pretty comfortable with what I said. Which, by the way, included all the things you said, minus the prematurely overreacting part.
     
  12. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Right I'm fully aware of what you said. My post wasnt directed at yours anyways. It was more of a blanket statement.

    You did make a good point and I liked where you were heading with the mutation part because that is plausible. Again we don't truly have anything real to go by other than that YouTube clip, a few interview articles and some screenshots. I respect the fact you're not going to completely write it off, unlike the typical "rager".
     
  13. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I have the audio version but I haven't listened to it yet. It has an impressive voice cast though.
     
  14. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Unless they were willing to keep the "anthology" format that gives a cumulative picture of a truly global catastrophe, they were never going to be able to do justice to the novel anyway. And having one character be in so many different locations all over the world while society is breaking down is just implausible.

    Either this story is unfilmable, or it's unfilmable by anyone without the cajones to do it right.
     
  15. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    JMS's drafts were pretty close to the book...looks like I got my answer from a few pages ago and they went in a drastically different direction from the source material.
     
  16. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    I had heard JMS got it pretty right, but, the money wanted it to better fit a money making "formula" and had it revised :(
     
  17. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

     
  18. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    The disappointing thing is we've seen a big budget movie that did well with the interview story telling format, and Brad Pitt was in it! Anyone remember Interview with the Vampire?
     
  19. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    This. An 'unfilmable' story just means they haven't found a writer/director with the skill or imagination to pull it off.
     
  20. USS Kongo

    USS Kongo Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Either that, or they just can't be bothered to even try.

    Sean