Monday, June 9, 2014

Warm Bodies (2013)

Warm Bodies
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich
My Rating: Liked It

(I wrote this a while ago, not when I published this)

The trailers for Warm Bodies didn’t interest me at all - I wrote it off, and quite frankly, I forgot about it. It came out on DVD recently and my boredom drove me to redbox, and I figured, “What the hell? Why not?” I’m very glad I was bored that night.

The world is comprised of mostly zombies, aimlessly walking around in search of fresh, living flesh to tear into. The main character, R, is an interesting exception to all of the zombies; He can easily formulate thoughts and he’s even an avid collector. Not only is he a bright zombie, but he can also spit out a word or two, here and there, to get his point across to whomever. R and a posse of zombies literally stumble across a group of survivors. R, being the smart and horny undead he is, eyes a living blonde goddess and saves her from the other zombies. The movie follows their relationship, which ultimately changes the whole world for the better.

There are some brilliant ideas put forth in Warm Bodies. For instance, if a zombie eats a living person’s brains, then he/she can see their memories. It’s kind of like their way of dreaming or using drugs; it’s really their only entertainment seeing as how they can’t ever fall asleep. I should add that the casting is perfect; everyone suits his or her part. Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine, Cedar Rapids) adds some absolutely hysterical comic relief that had me literally laughing out loud.


I don’t want to ruin the movie, but the message is strong and simple: when we are in love, we feel alive, more alive than we did before; and the way it presents that is very creative to me. I recommend this to everyone. Warm Bodies is the best take on zombies I’ve seen in a while. It may not be as fun or funny as Zombieland, but it’s got the brain and heart to match it.