World War Z

We've known for over a year now that World War Z would be an adaptation of Max Brooks' novel in name only, with that book's post-mortem structure jettisoned in favor of a lot more post-mortem running around and eating things. And yep, this first trailer confirms that it will be less of an poignant oral history and more of a straightforward disaster film: From the first traffic jam scene on, one can't help but be reminded of every single post-Independence Day melee, from 2012 to Cloverfield to War Of The Worlds to The Day After Tomorrow to I Am Legend to Battle Of Los Angeles, and so on. And yes, one may feel slightly underwhelmed by yet another "one man vs. the apocalypse—for his family" movie, even if that man is Brad Pitt. (Also: Bwaaaaaamp.)

Still, if you can set aside your Armageddon ennui, overlook any betrayal of the source material, ignore those pre-production reports of script troubles and problems between Pitt and director Marc Forster, and come to terms with the general oversaturation of undead, World War Z does look like a particularly epic zombie apocalypse film, on a scale that hasn't really been done before. You just know Roland Emmerich is watching this, then kicking himself for not thinking to replace tidal waves with rolling herds of fast-moving, CGI zombies.