Have you seen the new trailer for World War Z?  Did you see the first trailer for World War Z?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, then I offer my condolences.  Rarely has a trailer for a movie made me want to literally punch my computer screen after viewing it.  But congratulations World War Z – you accomplished that!  Now, for those not aware – there is a book called World War Z written by Max Brooks that came out in 2006 and it gives perspectives and stories from around the world after an infection spreads and causes a worldwide zombie apocalypse.  It was original, fresh, captivating, and scary.  And now we have Hollywood trying to capitalize off of the big zombie craze, thanks to The Walking Dead primarily, with a movie “adaptation” of the Max Brooks novel.  I put adaptation in quotes for numerous reasons.  Check out the newest trailer below and we’ll discuss afterwards:

Now if you’re saying that it looks awesome, you can leave the room now.  But before you do, I want you to tell me why you think it looks awesome.  Seriously. I want to know.  Is it because there are explosions and chaos?  Because I know that we’ve been conditioned to like anything that has explosions and chaos.  Is it the horrible fast-moving zombie CGI action?  Because I know how we all love CGI and think it’s the future of cinema.  Or is it the fact that Brad Pitt is the star?  Because we all know that Brad Pitt is a national treasure.  Now look – he’s clearly miscast here and looks like he doesn’t even want to be there.  And judging from the stories off all of the re-shoots and issues this movie has had, I don’t blame him.  When I watch this second trailer, if Brad Pitt wasn’t in it, I would honestly think that this was just a high budget Syfy Channel movie.  It looks terrible.  What sets it apart from anything else that we’ve seen?

*Spoiler alert: Brad Pitt is a zombie and tries to eat his wife*

I’m sure at the end of the day, it will be mindless fun that I can watch on a Saturday afternoon on HBO.  But fuck that.  The book deserves more.  It would have been better suited to be a 5 part mini-series on AMC where it actually…oh I don’t know – followed the book!  It’s a slap in the face and I can’t believe that Max Brooks signed off on it.  It cheapens what he has given us in his original novel form, and it just gives future filmmakers the idea that they can just throw a poorly executed film up on the screen, as long as it has a big star, and it will make money.  And that’s the bottom line here.  This movie will make money.  And maybe even generate sequels.  And Hollywood will stand and cheer for that.  But not me.  I’ll read the book again instead.  I’m actually hoping for a box office failure on this one and that’s somewhat sad to say because World War Z does fall into the “horror” category.  I feel I should be supporting it just based off of that alone, and do feel a little guilty trashing it. Did I mention it’s going to be PG-13?  Ok – nevermind….the guilt is gone.

*Spoiler alert 2:  Brad Pitt’s wife is a zombie and tries to eat him*