A general comparison likely to the Walking Dead, it's huge popularity and also there has been so much bad press about this film thus far.
I'm a huge fan of the fast zombies from 28 Days Later and the Dawn remake... but yeah, the zombies in that clip are just moving way too ridiculously fast. Kinda reminds me of something from the Mummy movies.
Calling something a zombie, doesn't make it so. Whether they be slow and shuffling, or fast and aggressive, risen from the grave, infected with an exotic contagion or ensorcelled by a Voodoo witchdoctor; a zombie's inherent mindlessness has consistently been it's defining characteristic. What you're describing is more along the lines of the classic pulp cannibalistic mutant. A modern interpretation of the old cultural fear of the savage. A human threat, not a monster in human form.
Nope, haven't read it, but, smart Zombies (Even Bud from Day of the Dead, who barely has any smarts) have never appealed to me, other than in Fido where they are used comedically as slaves. I personally didn't say this movie is officially a train wreck because of the smart Zombies, but, the more information that comes out, the more concerned I am this isn't a movie I'm interested in. Sterotypically, when someone is walking around half dazed and unable to think (Haven't had their first cup of coffee, not a morning person and takes thm a cople hours to wake up...) people are referred to as Zombies, not because they are trying to eat you, but, because they are aren't thinking, so, it is definitely accepted as a defining characteristic of a Zombie to be unthinking
Actually, I can think of a scenario where that would be justified. If the zombies were animated by a virus or nanotech that operates as a collective organism to run an individual body, then they could theoretically communicate between bodies and a group of zombies could operate as one organism. I don't think that approach would be appropriate for World War Z, but it would be an interesting idea to pursue in another venue.
Don't use the Z word, it's ridiculous. The Borg are often referred to as Zombies, they're not mindless. Vampires, Werewolves, even Frankenstein's monster, there are many different interpretations of them. He'll there are numerous different types of Zombies. Why is it so difficult for a different variation like this to exist?
No they're not. Labels mean something. That's the whole point. You can play around with the details in terms of capabilities, origins etc. but the defining characteristics must be adhered to or else it becomes meaningless. A Zombie in name only if you will. Werewolves are humans that turn into wolves, or something wolf-like. Vampires are nocturnal blood drinkers. Zombies are mindless flesh eaters. QED.
The Zombie’s physical capabilities (or lack there of) isn’t what caused the plague to spread and kill almost everyone, it was human ignorance and compassion that allowed the Zombies to overrun the world. Let me ask you, if a loved one became sick and, in what you assume to be delirium, bites you, will your first instinct be to shoot them in the head? Of course not, you would treat your wounds and then see about curing your loved one. Of course by then it is too late for the both of you. Next another loved one comes along and sees your plight thinking it is a simple but serious infection and tries to help but you bite them. wash, rinse, repeat all over the world and you have a global pandemic that is due to the fact that most people don’t treat chronic illness with a head shot. By the time the non-infected can do the research to figure out how actually stop the infected and then organize most of the world will filled with shambling hoards who only got that way because they were trying to care for sick loved ones.
I confess I'm more a fan of the traditional slow zombie, but I can understand the need for the fast type. The world is a faster moving place, with the internet, and cel phones, stuff that didn't exist in the 60's when Romero created the genre. You'd need a zombie plague with a fast, blitz style attack in order to keep ahead of the power of instant communication. But yeah, as others have said. My ultimate wish would be to see a multi-part, Ken Burns style documentary on the aftermath of a zombie war.
Oh, yea, sure that would be like several occurrences of a Raver in The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a swarm of insects, a swarm of rats, and I believe another similar type swarm as well, but, yea, that's not a normal Zombie Apocalypse
For me it's not even really a fast or slow thing, I don't really have a preference either way, I just thought the way they had them swarming just looked weird. I think it was more the execution than the actions themselves that seemed strange. As for intelligent Zombies, what was the general opinion about the Zombie character in the BBC version of Being Human? That's the only case of a serious intelligent Zombie that I know of.
This looks fine. I can't fathom why fans of The Avengers would complain about another CGI laden popcorn flick. The bigger question is why does Brad Pitt feel the need to still make mainstream action films? After Tree of Life, Moneyball, and Killing Them Softly, he should stick to the dying genre of adult films.
Because The Avengers was true to the source material and this isn't? Regardless of whether the effects are practical or CGI.
I don't know about visual media but Terry Pratchett had intelligent zombies in his fantasy world. He flipped it round so that what made them alive was what was between their ears and the bodies were decrepit.
There's been plenty of works of fiction with intelligent zombies. Vampires die in sunlight, except when they don't, they can't cross running water, except when they can. Werewolves change at full moon, except when they can change at will or change for 3 nights or can't control it but it can happen any time. They are killed by silver, except when they're not. Killing your maker turns you back human, except when it does. It doesn't matter, they're fictional and as such the rules vary from author to author.
IIRC he said in an interview he wanted to make a 'scary movie for his kids.' Which begs the question will World War Z be an R rated film or PG 13 in most likelihood?