Review - Warm Bodies (2013)

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and Rob Corddry.
Directed by Jonathan Levine.

Usually when you watch a zombie horror flick, it entails the undead on a killing spree throughout a city, people fighting for survival and scuffling for a cure. However in Warm Bodies we get a twist in the genre which definitely added life to it and proved that creativity still exists in the movie world.

In Warm bodies, we meet our protagonist R (Nicholas Hoult).  A somewhat "cool" zombie wandering in an undead territory of a city divided. The humans live on the other side of the great wall and one day a group of them, lead by Perry (Dave Franco) and Julie (Teresa Palmer) infiltrate the zombie territory looking for food supplies. However things go bad, R and a group of zombies stumble upon and attack Julie and her group. R falls in love with Julie and throughout the film, we see a bond being formed which may eventually change the world they live in.

Warm Bodies is romance, comedy, horror, a little action and post apocalyptic zombie theme all in one - and it worked. I think the film's concept and premise was cool and refreshing. It's really nice to watch something out of the ordinary for a change, especially since the post apocalyptic/zombie horror genre has gotten so repetitive and stale. The characters were developed nicely; Nicholas Hoult shined in his role and kept in character throughout. His narration, his expressions and grunts were hilarious and really carried this film. His partner in crime and best friend M (played by Rob Corddry) was also solid in his role. Both characters were awesome and Rob also was the film's comic relief. Through R's visions/memories in the movie, we are able to learn more of the human world on the other side of the wall and a bit more about characters such as Julie, Perry and Julie's father General Grigio (John Malkovich).

I love how the director was able to keep the film proportionate in terms of genres. There were dark moments in this film (scenes involving the bonies), there were mushy moments, there were kick-ass moments and the humor was consistent throughout. The movie surprisingly didn't feel corny and I could tell by the dialogue that it is targeting a younger audience but it is still funny enough to engage any audience. Usually in zombie flicks, the zombies are the enemies and stay the enemy, and the cure is usually destroying the city or what not. But in this case, the cure happens to be the most natural thing in the world - Love.

I enjoyed Warm Bodies. It's unique, it's funny and the acting was solid. I thought the concept of the undead falling for a human was destroyed by the Twilight films but Warm Bodies puts all that to shame. Too bad it's only one book and one movie.

Rating: 8/10



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