Zombiephilia
R (Nicholas Hoult) can't remember much but as one of the many zombies who amble around an abandoned airport he thinks, he thinks about who he was, who the other zombies he sees everyday were and whether they contemplate life like he does. He also contemplates the nuisance which being a zombie brings with it, such as only moving slowly meaning getting anywhere takes ages. But then one day whilst on one of their ventures outside of the airport they come across a group of young humans R feels a strange bond towards Julie (Teresa Palmer) as he munches on her boyfriend's brains. Helping her escape from the other zombies he takes her back to the safety of the airplane he calls home. It is there she begins to see that R is not like other zombies and he is going through a change which makes him more human, especially when R attempts to get Julie back to the city. But not everyone is happy as Julie's father and his army are paranoid whilst the bonies still see them as a threat despite other zombies also going through the change.
"Warm Bodies" starts of quite brilliantly as we listen in to the inner thoughts of R as he contemplates his life as a zombie. There are some amusing insights in to his life from a series of grunting sounds he makes with his friend M being the closest they get to a conversation to observations on how getting anywhere takes a really long time. It is amusing although also inconsistent because later on we see a scene of some zombies running. But it draws you in with these amusing observations and some great face acting from Nicholas Hoult.
But then "Warm Bodies" starts to drift as it introduces the romantic story of R and Julie, can you guess what R may stand for. Now there are still some fun scenes in this from R getting to see Julie's boyfriend life whilst eating his brains to humour surrounding R being a zombie and how Julie warms to him. The trouble is that when it focuses on the other stuff, the paranoia of the humans, the other zombies and their nemesis the bonies it is too much of a contrast to the fun parts. It almost feels like "Warm Bodies" was two ideas; a serious one and a comical one thrown together and not quite gelling.
Despite this "Warm Bodies" does benefit from a good cast an in particular Nicholas Hoult who some how is a good looking zombie. The facial mannerisms and longing looks ironically brings his character to life and makes him an interesting lead character. But then there is Teresa Palmer and maybe it is just me but there is something about her which is reminiscent of Kristen Stewart and the last thing this movie needs is to be compared to "Twilight" despite being a romantic zombie movie.
What this all boils down to is that in the big picture of zombie comedies "Warm Bodies" ends up just above half way as whilst some of it, the observational part, is funny the rest of it just fails to grab you and at times makes it feel like two different movies shoe horned together.
Tags: Zombie Movies
