I am a fan of almost all movie genres as long as they have the important elements; a good plot (and maybe a plot twist), character development, pacing, action, and good costume design. Nothing beats the gratification you get from watching a movie that combines all these elements. I grew up with a cousin who liked horror movies and anything related to zombies. Every night, we'd huddle in our dark room, the only light coming from the laptop. Our hands, cold and our gaze perfectly fixed on the movie. Watching this genre almost every day contributed to my love for zombie-related movies.
Warm Bodies hits all the right notes for me, aligning perfectly with my genre preferences. I love it when movie writers think outside the box, exploring the same concept that other movies have explored, but from a different perspective. I have seen popular zombie TV series like The Walking Dead and Z Nation. Of course, these series are masterpieces, but Warm Bodies is just different. You get the usual zombie experiences but in a unique way.
The movie, Warm Bodies, revolves around post-apocalyptical experiences in America. It opens with R (Nicolas Hault), a zombie, walking aimlessly in an airport. R, like zombies in other movies, doesn't remember his full name or memories from before the apocalypse (before he became a zombie); all that he remembers is that his name starts with R. Many Zombies have taken the airport as their home. It is safe to assume that when the apocalypse happened, it caught them in the airport, or that they simply wandered in from another place. During the day, they wander aimlessly around the airport, moaning and groaning at each other. At night, they sleep there. R is not your usual kind of zombie. Unlike other zombies, he built his house in an abandoned aircraft, where he listens to old records and collects various items. He engages in internal monologues, wondering why his life is this way. Whenever they are hungry, the horde (R and his “friends”) ventures into the city.
The plot shifts to the other part of the city, where the survivors live behind a huge gate built to prevent the zombies from entering. Viewers are introduced to Perry (Dave Franco), Julie (Teresa Palmer), and a group of other trained teenagers who go into the city (where the zombie lives) to scavenge for food, drugs, and other resources. During one of their outings, the team enters a pharmacy to get drugs but unfortunately for them, R and his horde are around that area. Drawn to the smell of humans, they go into the pharmacy. R sees Julie for the first time. It is safe to assume that he falls in love with her at first sight as their meeting is accompanied by the “usual romantic melody”. Out of the many reasons to get to know a girl you have just fallen in love with, eating her boyfriend’s brain is the most unorthodox way. R, drawn by the desires of a zombie, kills Perry (Julie’s boyfriend) and eats his brain. He reveals that eating the brain is the best part of being a zombie as it allows him to access their memories. Through Perry’s memories, R sees Julie and falls even more deeply in love with her.
Amid other zombies about to attack Julie, R saves her by masking her with his blood, overriding her human scent. He takes her back to his airplane home, where the two develop an unusual bond. This bond changes R, bringing out the human part of him. Interestingly, it spreads to other zombies.
One of the strengths of this movie lies in its blend of zombie horror, romance, and comedy. Traditional zombie comedy genres are amazing, but Warm Bodies leaps two steps forward. Usually, in the Traditional Zombie comedy genre, we have two survivors navigating a post-apocalyptic world, and as the plot progresses, the love between two humans blossoms. However, Warm Bodies takes this concept to another level. Who'd expect that R, a zombie would fall in love with Julie, a human? The movie also adds comedy scenes which adds to the beauty of the plot. For example, the scene where Julie is surrounded by a horde of zombies. R smears her with his blood and tells her to “act dead.” She overdoes it, acting deader than the zombies themselves. Jonathan Levine’s also uses R’s internal monologues to add comic relief.
The movie’s greatest strength lies in its plot twist. I mentioned earlier that I love it when movie writers think outside the box. Usually, in the traditional zombie genre, the way to end a zombie apocalypse is to find a vaccine or completely eradicate them, leaving only the survivors. However, in Warm Bodies, the bond between Zombies (R ) and humans (Julie) transforms them back into humans. In the movie, the zombies are referred to as “corpses” without even getting to know them. All they needed along the line was to be understood and given attention.
Moving on to the weaknesses. It is difficult to find flaws in this nice movie. However, the makeup and minor characters fell short of my expectations. The makeup appears shabbily and hastily done, as if they used a bunch of old eye shadows and paints. R, the protagonist played his part well; he talked and walked like a zombie, but some of the minor characters failed to play their parts well, as I could see flaws in their movements. Their movements occasionally appeared too human-like. In some parts, they walked and ran like “normal human beings”, not zombies.
Overall, Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies is a brilliant movie. Unlike other traditional zombie genres, it adds other elements like romance and comedy, in an interesting manner. Although the main plot takes a while to develop, it follows a chronological order and the plot twist adds to the overall beauty. While it has a few weaknesses, it is a good movie overall. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Thanks for reading.
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