It's not the best zom-com ever made. Certainly films like "Zombieland" and "Shaun of the Dead" take that prize. But, with a razor sharp, relatively inventive script/story, and a great performance from Nicholas Hoult, it's honestly not half bad.
"Warm Bodies" centers on a self-aware zombie, named R (Hoult), who cannot speak or control his urges. He spends his days at an airport, droning, groaning, and invading nearby cities in search of humans for food with the rest of his zombie horde. But, deviating from the rest of the zombie subgenre, the audience is in treated to R's narration. And surprisingly, we find out how remarkably self-aware he is. R feels conflicted about the things he does, he feels emotions, loneliness, appreciates good music and unique relics of the pre-zombie apocalypse world, and above all, simply longs to remember what it is like to be human. Then one day, uncharacteristically, he meets and falls in love with a survivor of the human resistance, Julie (Teresa Palmer), and R decides not to kill her, but rather save her. During his mission to save Julie from some "far-gone" zombies called "Bonies," R begins changing and becoming more human, which causes other zombies to follow in his example, leading to a major change in the war between humans, zombies, and "bonies."
It is a very unusual premise, I know. And the way it sounds, makes it appear Twilight-y. But fear not. It's at least more intelligent. If nothing else, I need to give it mad props for originality and cleverness of the writing. The movie has some funny moments and sharp snark to it--particularly R's entire narration. Hoult's comedic timing and self-conscious nervousness shines through, giving us the closest thing to a zombie Woody Allen (only, you know, more emo) that we've seen in a film. The beginning narration is probably the most smile-inducing moment in the movie, because it's so fresh. It sets you up for the great point of the movie-- giving zombies personality and humanity--and sets us up for the movie's overall theme of exploring what it is and means to be human. R's a well-rounded character. In fact all the zombies are, from R to R's best friend M (Rob Corddry), and beyond. And we are invested in the characters because Hoult and Corddry makes them likable and sympathetic. And the pieces of zombie backstory writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50) treats you to allow us to identify with the characters and their desire to be human again. Admittedly, yes, you do get a little tired of the fact by the end of the movie, because it gets a little stale given the one-joke premise (insecure zombie), but at least its heart is in the right place.
As mentioned Hoult and Corddry are great. And as far as other performances go Analeigh Tipton (Crazy Stupid Love) gives the next funnest performance in the film, as Julie's reasonably amusing and funny best friend. But the other supporting performances just aren't up to par with Hoult's anchor of a character. For example, Teresa Palmer is actually quite bland as Julie. Apart from aesthetics, I really don't see what R sees in her character. Also, surprisingly, John Malkovich isn't really anything to write home about either. He's sort of phoning it in as Julie's father, leader of the human resistance against the zombies, who's uncompromising and unwilling to change his beliefs that zombies can change back into humans (uh...when you say it like that, who really could blame him right?). Essentially he's playing the tough-guy John Malkovich, we've seen in all other films he's been in, only in an apathetic sort of way--unlike, say, his fun performance as the paranoid Marvin in Red, or even his own meta-performance as himself in Being John Malkovich. We get bits and pieces of Dave Franco (literally when R sort of chews on bits and pieces of him to feel his memories), and while there's a sweetness to his character, I'm starting to think young Dave is not as versatile as his older brother James. His character's a bit of a sweeter version of the character he played in 21 Jump Street--only, you know, in the zombie apocalypse. There is one scene that contributes a lot of character development to Franco's character, and that's the scene where he's forced to watch his zombie father being gunned down by his girlfriend. The character then changes into a soldier completely. It's a well written change for a minor character, but you aren't able to feel any of it with the way Franco sells it. A bit of a pity, really.
Speaking of "pity," the direction isn't all that great either. Levine has written a fun, interesting script, but he's hardly making things fun on screen. Everything is sort of blandly shot and executed, to the point where, despite the fact that you could feel there's a better movie in the words, characters, and actions, you don't really care much by the end of the film. I left not really feeling or taking very much with me, despite the fact that I initially was enjoying it. In other words, rather than making an impact on the audience with the direction, as Ruben Fleischer did with his visuals and comedic timing in Zombieland, we more or less just shrug "Warm Bodies" off. And there's something wrong with that, because, in essence, this is an original movie that's kind of the first of its own in its subgenre (in terms of having self aware zombies). He also injects heavy, heavy amounts of quirk into the film, which sometimes makes the movie feel like it's trying too hard to be way too offbeat and a little "too cool for school." We have zombies, and they are so cool, they listen to vinyl because "sound...better." Really? Did we need to make our zombies hipsters? (Admittedly, it does have a nice soundtrack though). Again though, there are some pretty funny moments--for example the scene where R watches Julie taking off her shirt while they prepare for bed in an abandoned house, and another ridiculous homage to Romeo and Juliet's famed balcony scene, between R the zombie and Julie. But in my opinion, I think the movie could have used more humor and pathos, and a bit less romance.
Nevertheless, there's an innate sweetness to the film, and when it's comedic, it's often good material, even if it is trying too hard to be offbeat. The heart and comedy, along with a good, original script, and a great performance by Nicholas Hoult make the film acceptable overall. Though the other performances aren't great, and though the movie doesn't really resonate with you after, I'd say it's still a nice enough little excursion to the theatre on a boring Saturday afternoon (or a Netflix stream if you end up being lazy...I could see this as a good rental movie honestly). And hey, at least that's more than we can say about most supernatural teen romances, right?
Overall Rating: B
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