World War Z: 10 Unforgivable Cuts From The Book

7. There€™s No Vaccine/Cure

Vaccine One of the more horrifying aspects of World War Z in book form was that there was no way you could protect yourself against the zombie virus. It didn€™t have a vaccine and it didn€™t have a cure, which meant it could just spread unchecked. Really, that€™s the most horrifying thing about zombies €“ they just get exponentially larger until there€™s nothing left. Humanity is supposed to feel helpless against that, and so it proved throughout much of the film€™s run-time. But then Gerry discovered a vaccine and the whole dynamic changed. Simply put, it€™s not a World War anymore. The humans have the equivalent of zombie kryptonite, an absolute game changer which will make the problem less about active warfare and more about pest control. If the enemy can€™t see you, there€™s no way you can call that a fair fight. Seriously, where are they going to go from here in the now green-lit sequel? Once you take away a zombie€™s ability to hunt and turn humans, what use are they? They€™re just a big, stupid bag of bones. It would be more of threat fighting monkeys, as at least they could see you. Effectively, they€™ve robbed themselves of any meaningful drama in the second instalment. The book€™s major strength was explaining in great detail the creative ways in which the world got around the problem of the undead on their doorstep, but with a one-size cure-all that tension will be lost €“ if a character is threatened, we won€™t wonder how they€™re going to get out of this, we€™ll ask why they hadn€™t had their vaccines. That shouldn€™t be the case in an action film.
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.