I re-watched my favorite zombie movie World War Z on Netflix – here’s why you should ignore its disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score
One minute you’re stuck in traffic, the next you’re fighting zombies
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While there’s a stream ofnew Netflix moviesto choose from every month, this time I found myself going back to my favorite creature featureWorld War Zafter it became available on thebest streaming service.Despite watching the blockbuster hit at least three times before,World War Zstill manages to get my heart pounding at every nail-biting twist and turn as the zombies unleash a ferocious attack across the globe.
So, you can understand my surprise when I discovered that the highest-grossing zombie movie of all time has a rather disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score of 67%, which also means that it doesn’t meet our criteria to earn a place on thebest Netflix movieslist.
WhenWorld War Zwas released in 2013, it became a commercial success, earning over $540 million at the box office and was even developed into one of thebest zombie video games.World War Zwas praised for reviving the zombie sub-genre that had gone quiet for decades following the likes of28 Days Laterand the king of zombie moviesDawn of the Dead.Varietyagreed with this point as they wrote in their review: “Brad Pitt’s much-malignedWorld War Zemerges as a surprisingly smart, gripping and imaginative addition to the zombie moviecanon.”
However, with good reviews always come the bad – and in this case, there was a lot of criticism surrounding the film as it didn’t remain faithful to the source material. While this may be very important for some viewers, the suspenseful action sequences and Pitt’s performance as a realistic hero armed with the desire to save his family rather than the world, makes this one of thebest horror moviesin my opinion.
Why World War Z is worth the watch
Based on Max Brooks' novelWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, World War Zstars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who goes on a deadly mission across the world to stop a zombie outbreak that is destroying humanity.
World War Zwas met with backlash as it strayed from what Brooks had envisioned in his bookWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.In the novel, the undead adhere to the more ‘traditional’ slow-moving zombies and are relentless in spreading the pathogen through biting or scratching living humans. Meanwhile, in the film adaptation, the zombies are animalistic fast zombies who run and lunge at their targets. Their sole focus is to spread the infection by biting their victim, but they also quickly lose interest once they’ve attacked someone and immediately go after another uninfected person.
It’s possible thatWorld War Zfell victim to the now-popular concept of having fast-moving zombies because it faced many production changes and reshoots as they thought it was too political and complex when they tried to match it to the source material, according toInverse.
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Fans of the book were disappointed to hear this, but I think they did a good job in translating the book’s core principles into an immersive cinematic spectacle, which is that the world is completely unprepared to deal with global disasters and one another.
The non-stop action and the fact that it throws you immediately into zombie mayhem is what I love aboutWorld War Z,so I was dejected to hear that a sequel had been scrapped due to supposed budget issues and dissolved any hopes of a promising new zombie franchise. But while I yearn for a sequel to continue the story,Screen Rantrevealed that aWorld War Zremake could be in the pipeline, which would be an ideal opportunity to explore the original novel’s storyline and attract fresh viewers to the same world.
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After graduating with a degree in Writing and Film Studies, Grace dived into the world of entertainment where she started writing all about the must-watch shows and movies at What To Watch. Now Grace is on her next writing adventure at TechRadar, where she uses her expertise to help readers keep up to date on the biggest TV shows and movies in the ever-changing world of streaming. If she’s not writing about her passion for entertainment, you’ll find her watching reality shows while feasting on chocolate.
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