WORLD WAR Z was a surprising success at the box office despite numerous reports of the strife on set and the ballooning budget that had many predicting a huge flop. When all was said and done, WORLD WAR Z was a good piece of entertainment but also not anywhere near what was expected from Max Brooks‘ source material. One of the huge things missing from the film were the large scale battle scenes that were told by characters in the book. The original ending to WORLD WAR Z was to be one of these war scenes that took place in Moscow. But, as we have come to learn, that scene was scrapped and a new ending was shot. So, what happened to the original ending?
Movies.com discussed that deleted scene with director Marc Forster who has proclaimed that we will never see the original Battle of Moscow ending as he didn’t feel it fit with the movie they were making. Here is what he had to say:
I believed in this ending more than anything. What I also liked about it was every summer blockbuster is trying in the third act is to do a bigger set piece that’s bigger and louder than what you’ve seen in the rest of the movie. I felt going against the grain and doing something more quiet and simple will be so much interesting and refreshing and something that we’re not used to. I was excited coming from a concept standpoint that everybody was willing to go there and not be like everybody else and do this big battle set piece, which was huge and loud and long; that we would go and take it in this smaller more quieter space.”
The ending of WORLD WAR Z as it stands takes place in a World Health Organization facility and is the complete opposite of a balls out war sequence. Does it work? Yes, it is a well crafted and thrilling scene and it does keep in tone with the overall movie, but I still would have liked a film with the word war in the title to have a little more combat.
Marc Forster also explains where his inspiration came for the tone WORLD WAR Z ended up going with:
The inspiration from this came from the ending of Alien 3, the confrontation of Ripley and the Alien where the Alien avoids her because she’s pregnant. Personally, that was the inspiration when the glass door opens and you have the zombie face-to-face with Gerry and then walking by. I enjoyed that.
Again, I liked WORLD WAR Z, but I didn’t love it. The book took the zombie story to a new place by showing all sides of a global battle against the living dead. The promise of a movie based on that should have used ALIENS as the inspiration by having scene after scene of epic warfare. If they intend to film a sequel, maybe that will take it to the next level.
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