If vampire/romance movies are made for teenage girls and zombie/horror movies are made for teenage guys, then Warm Bodies is the crossover movie. Yes, Warm Bodies, the Zombieland-style horror/love story by writer/director Jonathan Levine. This is Levine’s followup to his 2011 cancer dramedy and critical hit 50/50, but it’s a much different film, and pretty decent for what it tries to do.
I went to see it with a friend on a Tuesday afternoon. Suffice it to say, the theater was near-empty except for a young couple seated directly in the middle. From the opening scene in Warm Bodies, I must admit I was a little annoyed by the film’s overly-sarcastic style of humor. It’s just not my thing. However, the one lady in the theater seemed to enjoy it. So there’s that.
That’s not to say the film isn’t well made; it is. Especially in its direction and cinematography. At first, I felt that some of the logic behind the character’s choices and what they were able to do in this zombie-infested post-apocalyptic world gave way to a few “yeah right” moments. Then I stopped and realized I’m watching a movie about people living in a zombie-infested post-apocalyptic world. Suspend all disbelief, check.
The film follows a 20-something zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult). He spends his days wandering around an airport, “lived in” by other zombies. He has thoughts, too. Cohesive ones. And we get to hear all of them through narration, which is where the majority of the sarcasm comes from.
On the other end of the spectrum, we meet apocalypse-survivor Julie (Teresa Palmer). Sent on a scavenging mission with her friends and a few weapons, they set out to gather up various supplies to bring home to the heavily-guarded city in which she lives, run by her hard-nosed military father (John Malkovich). Unfortunately for them, they run into a group of zombies, including R.
From this point on, the film changes into something completely different. When R ends up falling in love with Julie and saving her from his zombie friends, he brings her back to his pad, set up nicely in an abandoned airplane. Over time she begins to see that he’s not like other zombies; he doesn’t want to kill her. Forget everything you knew about zombies, check.
Of course, I’m leaving out some major plot twists. At the time, these twists may seem unreasonable and ridiculous, but given the end goal of the film, you’ll see that they actually make sense. This is more of a light-hearted fairy-tale than a gruesome zombie-flick.
All in all, this quirky, undead love-story is a very interesting take on zombies. Though the genre didn’t need a makeover quite yet, it got one with Warm Bodies, and ends up being much better than expected.