Movie Review: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies (2013)

After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.  Short synopsis of Warm Bodies taken from IMDb.com 

Got to go to the movies this past evening (when these notes were first written it was the past evening, but that's been many an evening past now, as you can tell).  It was tough to decide what to see.  Not that there are so many good things out right now, but more that there are so many un-inspiring options.  After careful debate, and looking up reviews on RottonTomatoes.com, I decided that the safest use of some theater gift card funds would be Warm Bodies, the recent take on the zombie apocalypse from a new perspective - i.e.: the zombie's point-of-view.

Now the good news is (and I'll spoil this right up front), I thought the movie worth the full price ticket (not even matinee, which feels somehow like I was being extravagant and blowing my nose on dollar bills or something).  The better news - and this was cool - was that due to the fact that I was in the theater on an odd night for film-going (it's complicated to explain why; suffice it to say, a rare night off from work due to re-scheduled trucks), I had the whole theater to myself.  I could have shouted loud commentary if I'd wanted, and nobody would have been around to be annoyed.  Quite nice.

But the bad news?  I ponied up for some popcorn and a "regular" drink, and that was more than the movie ticket!  Ridiculous.  You'd be hard-pressed to convince me that popcorn and lemonade costs that much, but they sure didn't mind charging an arm and a leg.  It's not a wonder people would rather pirate movies off the 'net and watch them at home.  You can get a five dollar Little Caesars pizza and pop some microwave Orville Redenbacher and it'll cost you maybe seven bucks, tops.  And as many people as you want to watch with you, instead of paying eight or nine a head at the theater.  And you can watch in your old ratty sweats, and not worry about looking unkempt.  If you care about such things, that is.



Zombies find love....  ahhhh.  / Source: rscreativewriting.wordpress.com

OK, I'm getting off track.  Back to the movie.  I'll be brief on this one, as I recommend it.  The short version of the plot is: Zombie meets girl, it's love at first sight for him, he takes her back to his place (an abandoned passenger jet at the local airport) and keeps her safe.  She decides she wants to go home, and our zombie (named "R," as he can't remember his real name - just that it started with the letter "R") begins evolving back into a normal human, albeit one with no pulse.

In the meantime, other mostly human zombies start becoming infected with this new humanity, and begin turning away from the stereotypical "eat human brains" death-style.  Oh yeah, the brains thing is important, and one of the movies inventive plot points.  For as long as their have been zombie movies, people have been wondering: why brains?  Well in Warm Bodies, the protagonist explains that brains provide the memories of the victim to the zombie, and said zombie gets to feel what it was like to be a person again.  This is important because "R" ate his new wanna-be girlfriend's old lukewarm-ish boyfriend during their first encounter, and he knows her pretty well because of it.  Things between "R" and the lady are going on swimmingly, for a zombie and a live person, for some while.  But of course, there is an inevitable moment when confessions must come, and she leaves "R" behind to return to the fortified zone.

But the two have made a connection, and it isn't long before "R" finds a way to reach his lady.  She takes him to her dad, who just happens to be the leader of the safe zone.  Needless to say, death-hardened dad is not impressed, and tries to chase down the star-crossed lovers and put an end to "R."

You know, in this reviewer's opinion, nobody has quite done it like the original Night of the Living Dead.  I still get a chill from that iconic line: "They're coming to get you, Barbra."  And that flick had its monsters on screen maybe ten minutes total.  Granted, much of it was budget related, I'm sure, but filmmakers back in the day seemed to know more instinctively that the less you see something scary, the more it worms away in the back of the viewer's mind.  / Source: drafthouse.com

Now there is an added complication of these really far-gone zombies who are just walking skeletons, called "bonies," who have no way of reclaiming their humanity like "R" and others like him.  These walking CGI rejects from a bad horror survival video game are converging on the safe zone to eat the humans and kill the zombies who have rediscovered their humanity.  But everything works out OK in the end.

I gave more of the plot than I intended, but it is a good twist to the overly-cliche zombie apocalypse story, and shows real inventiveness on the filmmakers' part.  I liked the love story element to it, and the idea that zombies might be able to evolve into something that could co-exist with regular humans was a nice idea.

My gripes were fairly small, but they were present.  First, the trailer makes the movie seem much more comedic (another one of those instances where they sell the movie as something different than its actual tone ends up being), and this was annoying.  The movie was still good, but the humor moments were not as prominent, nor fully laughable as anticipated, due to the zombie horror aspect of the film.  What I'm saying is, this is not Shaun of the Dead, by any means.  But, to be clear, it is not the movie's fault, but the studio's marketing plan.

The two principle actors in the film, doing their thing.  Two thoughts come to mind when I look at this image.  First, have you seen the interior of a passenger aircraft?  That kind of space is not happening.  And two, some sage advice.  Never play cards with a zombie.  If they lose, they may just decide to take out their frustration in a truly biting manner. / Source: insidemovies.ew.com

As for the film itself, I had three gripes and one kudos.  The gripes, in brief: 1. The "bonies" were a bit generic, as I alluded to above (when I called them CGI rejects from that un-named survival horror game, that is); 2. The brain-eating-for-memories was a little thin as a plot point, even though it was a good explanation for that whole brain-eating zeitgeist that zombie movies have limped upon for years, and; 3. The acting of the two lead zombies ("R", and his best friend "M") was a bit too human after too short a time, in my opinion.  They seemed to break character too quickly, in my eyes.  One moment, they are dead and loving it, and the next, they are way warm and fuzzy?  Didn't quite work for me.

And the kudos?  There is a snippet of a scene in the trailer where you see the leading lady's bare back, and the implication is that "R" gets to see more than his zombie system can handle.  Actually, the scene itself, though it is thrown in for obvious eye candy (she's certainly an attractive young woman, no doubt), does not become excessive.  This could have gone way out of hand, or become sexually sholcky, but instead the filmmakers used it just as another instance of showing how much "R" is changing, since attraction of that sort is the least thing on a normal zombie mind, and our boy has a tough time handling his rekindled humanity in this regard.  What I'm saying here is that they didn't ruin it here with something untoward and awkward, and so the movie didn't go off track.  I appreciated that.

The cover of the novel upon which the film was based.  I haven't read this one, and though I did like the movie, I don't intent to either.  Too much else to read. / Source: wikipedia.org

My usual input on content: the film does have some zombie-related gore, violence, and a bit of swearing (with one thrown on f-bomb for laughs that could have been skipped all together), so even though I failed to check the rating before going, I'd say from what I saw that it was a strong PG-13 or a somewhat mild R rating.  Take that for what it is worth.

As said before, Warm Bodies had enough innovating material and charm to keep this zombie flick fan enthralled.  I can only hope World War Z is nearly as good, when it comes out this coming summer (tells you how long it's been since I wrote these particular notes, I know).  For zombie movie aficionados who aren't hard-core "humans-first" people ("the only good zombie is a permanently dead with a head-shot zombie"-type of people, that is), this will provide suitable entertainment.  And hey - if it wouldn't give my wife nightmares with the scary/semi-gruesome stuff, I bet she'd like the love story aspect.  A zombie movie you could take a date to and still get a smooch from at the end of the night?  With Warm Bodies, it just might be possible.

The parting comment:

Source: LOLSnaps.com

In case the zombies come, here is a pretty decent info graphic to help you out.  Just keep one eye out while reading...  they may be creeping up on you at this very.... ahhh...  ugh... get 'em off, get 'em offfferr.... ugh...  uhhh........................brainz.....  brainz....