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WARM BODIES

A ZOMBIE WOOS A GIRL AFTER EATING HER BOYFRIEND



★★★★★

Director: Jonathan Levine

2013


On the ladder of doable monsters, vampires are first while zombies are dead last—but no animated corpse has ever looked like sexy Nicholas Hoult before. He may have been wearing that red hoodie for eight years and smell like rot, but we can hardly blame our heroine Julie for looking at him twice, even when he’s got the brains of her ex-boyfriend smeared across his face. Warm Bodies is so much more than a horror comedy about a zombie named “R” and the human girl he instantly falls in love with. This saccharine story is full of obstacles for our lovers while living up to the gore and guns expected of a living dead film. It also gets you thinking about what makes us all truly human, and whether anybody is beyond redemption. There’s certainly something still human left in our zombie “R”, and we see it when he wordlessly puts a blanket over Julie so she can sleep, and we can hear it in his voice as he narrates his kills. Is the movie sappy? Yes. Can you easily predict the outcome? Yes, but who cares? In this time of crisis, Warm Bodies is just the antidote to warm that heart of yours. I promise you will root for these two crazy kids.


Eight years after a zombie apocalypse, human civilization has been reduced to a walled fortress inside the center of a city. Our heroine Julie (Teresa Palmer) is one of the teens who goes out to find medical supplies, though mankind has long given up on curing the disease that caused the undead. On one particular supply-run, her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco) and others are killed while she escapes the slaughter after catching the eye of “R” (Nicholas Hoult), a young zombie narrating the plot for us. “R”‘s life (death?) up until then had been fairly predictable. One day, he will eventually become a “bonie”—a skeletonized zombie without remorse—like all walking corpses, but for now, he spends his time roaming the airport with hundreds of other walkers, and hangs with his best friend “M”—a relationship defined by sitting on stools and occasionally grunting at one another. The character of “M” requires an actor with excellent comedic timing, so Rob Corddry is perfect in the role.



The trajectory for “R”‘s end days was clear until he meets Julie. After saving her from the attack that kills her boyfriend (she didn’t see who did the deed, so “R” is off the hook for now), he leads her to his home: an airplane filled with trinkets he has collected through the years, and a record player. Traumatized, Julie has a hard time believing this creature will not harm her, even when he puts on a soothing record and warns her that she can’t leave. Julie is tough and sweet, so we can see why “R” sets her apart. She’s also not one to wait to be saved, and tries multiple times to escape only to be rescued by “R” again and again. The days go by, and as he eventually worms his way into her heart, they both notice that he’s being physically and mentally changed by his love. Unfortunately, her father, General Grigio (John Malkovich), couldn’t care less that a zombie is starting to come back to life. His wife died and Perry died and it’s kill or be killed. Malkovich plays Julie’s gruff father as a man who loves her at arm’s-length to prepare himself for her inevitable death.


General Grigio might not even have time to kill “R” because a horde of ravenous bonies is descending upon the fortress, hoping to wipe out the remaining humans. Of course, “R” is willing to fight to help Julie and her people, but what about the rest of the zombies? Are they also feeling human?


Warm Bodies is by far writer/director Jonathan Levine’s best work to date, much of it having to do with the source material—an endearing, bestselling novel by Isaac Marion. Nicholas Hoult brings an earnestness to every role he plays; we feel for “R” without knowing much about him, and we worry for him even when he has the upper hand. Levine is careful not to spoon-feed him and Julie to us; each scene brings the couple closer in a realistic way. I don’t want to cheapen this wonderful film with references to Twilight, but if Edward fans are looking for something new to watch that has the same supernatural romantic flavor, this would be it. Warm Bodies is a rare horror movie with brains and guts and heart.






GENRES: Apocalyptic, Feminist-Friendly, Funny, Monster/Creatures, Teens in Peril


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