Running Time: 1hr 37min
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Remember those resounding words of William Wallace spoken in “Braveheart”: “Every man dies; not every man really lives”? Well, in a bizarre and apropos of nothing kind of way, it’s the same for zombies, at least according to “Warm Bodies” writer/director Jonathan Levine. With the old, familiar, brain-eating genre turned squarely on its head, we’re now confronted with the perplexing notion that zombies need love too.
R (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie with an identity crisis. Like most of his lurching cohorts, he’s a slow wanderer with a fixed stare, only becoming animated when the smell of brains is in the air. But R is also different. He’s self-aware, and in a manner reminiscent of his youthful human counterparts, a kind of teenage awkwardness accompanies the fact that he’s alone and unhappy – not to mention discontent with the joyless and routine plight of the undead masses. Having made his home aboard an abandoned airliner, he’s a collector of trinkets from the post-apocalyptic earth; least of which in his collection is a healthy supply of vinyl records. Sequestered in the dim light of the cabin, and reclined in his business class seat, R listens wistfully to Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart”.
One day while foraging for people, R and a pack of fellow zombies come across a small group of supply-gathering humans. The fight goes badly for the living, and only a couple survive, including the endearing Julie (Teresa Palmer), who owes her survival to an unexpected act of kindness by R, her would-be killer. As he covers her savory scent with brown muck, he stares at her, doe-eyed, in the zombie equivalent of love at first sight. He smuggles her back to his jumbo jet where he eventually assuages her fears of being eaten. As they pass the time waiting for the danger to pass, R displays the all ungainly charm of a handsome, stuttering corpse. As the unlikely friendship begins, something unexpected happens. R begins to change from the inside out. Turns out, Julie is the zombie antidote. Or more thematically, having someone to love and care about is the cure to what ails a lifeless life.
It’s a theme we’ve seen in countless romance movies, where love conquers all, tames the wild beast, overcomes all obstacles and kisses in water fountains. But “Warm Bodies” succeeds in navigating the rocky shoals of cliches by lightheartedly embracing them. The story’s original premise and enjoyable acting makes the triteness of boy-meets-girl, Hollywood-style love permissible all over again. There’s even a balcony scene. And we say, isn’t it wonderful? But will the two unorthodox lovebirds be another Romeo and Juliet, or will they live happily ever after? The uncertainty carries the film.
The blending of genres is well done, and even those who are disinclined to watch a zombie flick may find “Warm Bodies” tastefully done. (I use the word “tastefully” here on purpose because while there is the occasional eating of gray matter, it lacks the gore of hardcore horror.) At times, the film skates dangerously close to becoming a parody of itself, but never falls off the cliff. It swerves back on track just at the point where it becomes too silly. The occasional slow pace and thin narrative – which is devoid of any kind of subplot – pose the greatest challenges. But “Warm Bodies” proves to have enough charm and originality to keep an audience from feeling like part of the zombified cast.
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