Summit Entertainment has done gonzo box office with their Twilight series. Now that the franchise
is wrapping up, it's no surprise that they and other studios are looking to
fill the void. Summit has already found a suitable and superior replacement in
Isaac Marion's novel, Warm Bodies,
which casts the zombie as an unlikely romantic interest while borrowing
elements from Shakespeare's Romeo &
Juliet.
Warm Bodies might
be the first film to take us inside the mind of the zombie. A shuffling and
decaying corpse that craves human flesh could hardly be considered leading man
material. Luckily, the protagonist is a handsome and introspective young zombie
who goes by R (Nicholas Hoult) because he can only remember his first name
began with the letter 'r.' He lives inside an old airliner and spends most of
his days wandering around an abandoned airport with his fellow walking dead.
Julie (Teresa Palmer) lives with the survivors of humanity
inside a walled city under the command of her father, Colonel Grigio (John
Malkovich). Julie, her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco), and best friend Nora
(Analeigh Tipton) are sent out as part of a search party to bring back food and
medical supplies. The kids are soon swarmed by zombies and R chows down on
Perry's brains. Turns out, the reason zombies hunger for human brains is
because it allows them to experience their victim's emotions and memories. It
is the only way for a zombie to once again feel what it was like to be human.
Spurred on by Perry's recollections, R is instantly smitten by the beautiful
Julie and rescues her. At the same time, Julie is intrigued by this
"corpse" that can talk, that doesn't act like the rest of his kind,
and listens to vinyl records. Their romance not only stirs something within R,
but the other zombies as well.
Writer/Director Jonathan Levine has a knack for capturing
the heartfelt moments of youth as seen in his previous pictures, The Wackness and 50/50. Warm Bodies
presents a far more interesting romance than anything from Summit's famed
franchise though not without its faults. Levine's film doesn't turn the genre on
its ear the way Shaun of the Dead
did, which conveyed the idea that humanity was already zombified more
succinctly. The soundtrack can sometimes be too hip for its own good when R
tries to comfort Julie by spinning tunes like "Shelter from the
Storm" by Bob Dylan, "Patience" by Guns 'N' Roses, and
"Hungry Heart" By Bruce Springsteen. On the other hand, there is a
cute gag using "Pretty Woman" when Levine fakes us out over an
expected makeover montage. Because the zombies are the sympathetic
protagonists, the movie needed a villain and Warm Bodies provides us with the Bonies, zombies who are so far
gone that they have been reduced to desiccated corpses. Despite being charred
and emaciated, they are somehow stronger and faster than anything living or
undead. Plus, the CGI is never that convincing.
Warm Bodies is the
first example of a meet cute that features mass murder and brain eating. Yet,
Julie gets over the death of her boyfriend fairly quickly. The script chooses
the easy route by revealing that Perry started becoming a bit of a jerk and it
doesn't help that they cast Dave Franco, who has made a habit of playing
douche-y characters. While someone like Emma Stone might have done more with
the role, Teresa Palmer equates herself well as Julie. Despite bearing a
resemblance to Kristen Stewart, Palmer has a bit wider acting range and has
Nicholas Hoult to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Hoult is able to convey a
great deal of emotion with the slightest change in his eyes. The best performance
belongs to Rob Corddry as R's best friend Marcus. Corddry has generally been
cast as loudmouth jerks, but as a zombie, he has to do a lot with very little
and turns in something funny and surprisingly soulful.
Warm Bodies is a
welcome change of pace from the dreary releases currently packing theaters.
Rating: *** (*****)
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