'Warm Bodies' - It's Romeo & Juliet if Romeo was a zombie!
With the zombie craze in high gear, it is refreshing to see a movie that takes the genre and turns it on it's rotting ear, so to speak! As a very charming love story, 'Warm Bodies' does more in 97 minutes than 'Twilight' was able to do over the course of 6 (or was it 7) films! And that is take a classic horror genre piece and turn it around just a little bit. Director Jonathan Levine ('50/50') brings his indie sensibilities and his knack for subtle humor to a a genre that may soon be running out of gas (but maybe not, as long as 'The Walking Dead' can keep up the excellent story writing) with expert craftsmanship and terrific acting.
With a tongue in cheek nod to 'Romeo and Juliet', the two main characters are 'R' and 'Julie', 'Warm Bodies' is a tale of love and the human spirit conquering all, even a zombie plague! Lighthearted and warm, this film makes no bones about it's romantic sentimentality; in fact, it plays on it. From the spot on voice over narration of 'R', to the cheesy pulse beats of the zombie hearts coming back to life, 'Warm Bodies' has enough to surprise the romantics in the crowd as well as excite the zombie movie lovers!
Set in a post apocalyptic city, humans are now outnumbered by zombies and fighting for survival, not only do they have zombies to worry about though, they also have to be concerned with a vicious race of 'bonies', zombies that have all but given up and wasted away to skeletons. Basically, they will eat anything with a heartbeat, something that some of the zombies are starting to refuse to do. More on that in a moment. The humans have constructed a wall around their city and from time to time venture out beyond the walls to gather much needed supplies.
Enter 'R' (Nicholas Hoult) who is currently living in the airport and has taken up a home in an abandoned jet. While on a 'raid', 'R' runs into a human girl, 'Julie' (Teresa Palmer), saves her life and begins to develop feelings for her. 'R's narration is spot on perfect as the zombie 'R' can only grunt as he shuffles through each scene. Some communication is possible, but as 'R' comes back to life because of his connection to Julie, so do his communication skills.
Director Levine handles what could have been a cheesy story nicely, even tossing in the obvious takes from 'Romeo & Juliet' as in a balcony scene that was somehow sweet when I should have been rolling my eyes. His story of love conquering all and acceptance as well as tolerance is never heavy handed and touches us nicely. Nicholas Hoult does a great job of giving 'R' emotion without betraying the zombie code of lifeless expression. Teresa Palmer looks every bit the part of Juliet, as Julie, and is terrific as the strong, capable woman who ultimately is responsible for bringing humanity back to life.
'Warm Bodies' succeeds simply because it is light, heartfelt and romantic all while being wrapped up in a zombie movie. It sounds weird and to be honest, based on the trailer, I was going to leave this one to DVD, but I am glad I was able to sink my teeth into the 3 1/2 star delight!