Movie Review: Warm Bodies

I know Warm Bodes has been out for quite some time and while I had originally wanted to see it, too many things kept taking priority.

Today I had a free rental and it was available so I gave it a shot.  I was impressed.  It was not exactly what I had expected; in fact it was much better than I expected.

Warm Bodies is a love story about a girl and her Zombie.  Not having researched the movie before I watched it, I expected something of a lighthearted romantic comedy.  It is actually a bit more gritty that comedy, perhaps more in line with movies such as Zombieland (another one I enjoyed immensely).

The story is told primarily from the point of view of R (played by Nicholas Hoult), the male lead who cannot remember his name or much of anything about his past before he died (accept he thinks his name started with an “R” sound).  He knows he’s dead and much of the movie is his internal monologue showing his conflicted nature about what he is and his desire to be more.

The female lead, Julie (played by Teresa Palmer), has grown hard in the post apocalypse world, but she is not entirely jaded with life and still hopes for something better.  On a scouting mission to bring supplies back into the walled off city where the last of the humans live, her group is attacked and eaten; however, R is sparked into saving her and leads her back to where he is living at the airport.

R is a bit different, having hoarded many objects that would have meaning to humanity and the living.  Through a series of events, R saves Julie a number of times and eventually builds her trust.  As they bond and she starts treating him more as a person, he begins to change even more, which in turn starts affecting some of the other zombies.  To avoid any spoilers, I’ll leave the description of events there.

While there is definite violence and fighting in the movie, it is actually more about the connection they make and the building of their relationship.  There are a few clichés parts, such as issues with her father (who is the leader of the humans and played by John Malkovich, another of my favorites).  There is also not much of an explanation of the mechanics of the universe and how the zombies work, but I don’t think you’ll find much science behind zombies in any zombie film.

While I am not a huge fan of the zombie horror films, this one fits right in with the type of zombie films I do enjoy (Shaun of the Dead, Resident Evil, Zombiland, …).  I will give Warm Bodies 4 out of 5 stars and now that I’ve seen it, I’ll probably add it to my video collection at some point.