World War Z started as a great zombie novel with a lot of political undertones and then there was the film, the film which looked to bury Brad Pitt with its rewrites and negative fan boy reaction, before anyone had even seen the film. There we had the reality, a pretty good film which might just get studios interested in pouring big cash into zombie films. Ok! It wasn’t the book, but then even the author, Max Brooks, said that the two should be taken as separate entities.

So we finally have the film and with it the ubiquitous official, illustrated companion book, The Art of the Film. Because the book contains the script, a big spoiler for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, the list of authors is long, including Matthew Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof.

The book is of traditional size, around eight and a half by eleven inches, with one hundred and sixty pages. As befits Titan, the overall quality is high, with shiny paper that brings out the best in the photographs and production illustrations. This is a script book so there is no introduction; the book throws you straight into the script.

Each page has a portion of the script with either production art or stills from the film intertwined with the text. There are a number of full page spreads for the art, but the real reason for the book's existence is to relive the film as you read the script and scan the pictures.

The first one of these books I bought was The Art of Star Wars and this follows something which is almost a tradition now in size and content. It’s a great book for those who went into the film with an open mind and enjoyed themselves. It doesn’t do anything to push the format but is a nice reminder for fans of the film.

8

Charles Packer