WARM BODIES – The Review

Uh oh! A new film based on a young adult novel featuring the love affair between a human teenage girl and a hunky supernatural creature. Didn’t a big series of those flicks just finish up. Yup, the Twilight movie adaptations are finally history. But WARM BODIES is not just a rip-off of them. It’s actually a nice twist on the zombie genre. The post apocalypse setting where a ragtag group of humans fight hordes of flesh-eaters has became familiar to movie goers just like the dusty streets of Westerns and the rainy, dark streets of film noir mysteries. So, this is a love story, a zombie tale, and…a witty satire on teen rom-coms. A cinema hat trick! But do these ingredients mix well together and form a tasty movie treat?

The hero of WARM BODIES is actually one of the “walking dead”, who can’t remember his full name, but he thinks it begins with “r”. So, R (Nicholas Hoult) spends must of his days shuffling around an empty (of human beings) airport along with countless other infectees (we see TV news snippets, but he can’t recall what the exact cause of his condition). But he’s different from many of the others (besides having these inner thoughts that are the film’s narration). He likes to collect nick-knacks (particularly old record albums) and keep them on a wrecked plane on the runway. R also has a pal M (Rob Corddry) and they hang at the airport bar and speak in one word sentences, usually “Hungry” and “Eat”. They’re the fresher zombies referred to as corpses as opposed to the older ones who are almost walking skeletons, the savage “bonies” (who knew they had a class system?). One day R,M, and a few others leave the airport and head out looking for food. This is the same day that Julie (Teresa Palmer), her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco), and gal pal Nora (Analeigh Tipton) leave the walled-up city and go out scrounging for medicine. The zombies find them and in the battle R kills Perry and eats his brain (the tastiest part). Turns out that you feel the memories after you digest said brain. R spots Julie, but instead of seeing her as food, he wants to protect her. Can he have feelings for her? More importantly, can he keep her from the others (especially those bonies) and return her to her home that’s run by her zombie-hatin’ Dad, Grigio (John Malkovich)? And is he the only one that’s feeling this strange warm sensation spreading through his cold chest?

Hoult (recently the Beast in X MEN: FIRST CLASS and soon to be JACK THE GIANT KILLER) makes a very nice soulful zombie, more of a lost puppy than a ghoul. He does the standard slow shuffle, but tilts his head as if to comment non-verbally about the situation. Of course any fella’ with a spark of life would fall for the lovely Ms. Palmer as Julie. She’s a tough, take-charge survivalist who’s confused by this odd creature that watches over her. But slowly her cold heart warms and she wants to give him a chance. She’s also got a fun BFF relationship with Tipton (CRAZY STUPID LOVE) as Nora who won’t let the end of the world prevent her from enjoying the good times. Speaking of pals, Corddry (HOT TUB TIME MACHINE and creator/star of TV’s “Childrens’ Hospital”) steals the film as R’s best bud M. His dialogue is even more limited than Hoult’s, but he makes excellent use of his superb comic timing (I’d love to see a pin-off/sequel built around this goof). Malkovich is his usual quirky menacing self as the hardcase dad that refuses to believe that things can change.

Hard core gore fans may not get their usual bloody kicks here. The attacks are fairly tame with only a few scenes of ripping and tearing flesh (less than the most gentile episode of “The Walking Dead”). Most of the menace is provided by the crazed bonies who resemble the ill-tempered “Children of the Hydra” from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS or smaller scale-stripped raptors. This is not the first zombie comedy (I guess that’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but the original DAWN OF THE DEAD has some really funny moments), but a lot of the humor here comes from Hoult’s deadpan narration and the sending up of clichéd scenes from rom-coms, particularly the montages. There’s a fun, frolicking, getting-to-know-each-other montage and even a make-over montage all set to peppy pop songs. Director/screenwriter Jonathan Levine (50/50) keeps the film humming along at good speed and knows when to adjust the pace for the danger scenes. Not sure if seeing the zombie hearts light up (too E.T. really) works, but most of the twists on zombie rules (they move slow until they smell humans and the whole brain eating memories) set this flick apart. There’s plenty of scares and more laughs (and yes, some romance). WARM BODIES pumps some needed fresh blood into a familiar genre. Hopefully film fans will bite!

4 Out of 5 Stars