Our review of the adaptation of the best-selling Max Brooks novel of the same name…which has nothing to do with said novel. Already we’re in troubled waters. And why does the back of the ticket say, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here?”
Our review of the adaptation of the best-selling Max Brooks novel of the same name…which has nothing to do with said novel. Already we’re in troubled waters. And why does the back of the ticket say, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here?”
This film is an excellent example of how a “cult” or “genre” concept will almost certainly be ruined by its admittance to the mainstream. Upon a time, there were zombies that ate people and vampires that weren’t sexy teens. Damn you, Frank Langella!
“Frank Langella was the only performance I believed…”
But seriously, mainstream or indy, this level of workshopping will always kill a story. How long have they been prepping this thing? I’ve heard Brooks claim a movie’s been in the works since 2006, and he should know, if anybody does…at least he had the good sense to step away from it early. Heinlein and Bradbury (just to name two favorites) wrote whole books about their horrible experiences in Hollywood. To go through all that, on top of being the Son of a Certain Someone half the people in town have worked with at one point, sounds like a recipe for schizophrenia. I honestly hope he keeps stepping all the way to the bank, then goes back home and gets back to work on whatever he’ll do next. Then this mess won’t be completely in vain.
That fact that it was in preparation for so long proves that there was no unifying vision holding it together. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians as it were. It it hadn’t been a Brad Pitt vehicle, it almost certainly would never have been finished. Which would have probably been for the best.
I used to be a Brad Pitt fan, back when he was taking challenging and interesting roles (Snatch, Fight Club). His work the past several years has been very lack luster. I can’t help but feel that Patrick Wilson would have done something more interesting with it, as he’s an actor that has been growing in my estimation for some time now.
I’d have saved that “chiefs & Indians” metaphor for the Lone Ranger thread, myself, but there’s no reason you can’t use it twice, if it’s applicable (and it is). As for Dan Dreiberg…I don’t know. Maybe that might’ve “helped,” if we define “helping” as “made the movie a little more tense, considering the chance someone will suffer horribly, on screen, is usually in inverse proportion to the fame of the actor involved, unless you’re watching an Irwin Allen disaster movie.” However, I suspect Gerry’s Hero’s Battle Death Exemption would’ve proven just as strong, no matter who wound up incarnating him. This wasn’t supposed to challenge anyone. How could it make money if it did that? Might as well ask for Generic Wife & Kids to be more than Human MacGuffins.