I remember when 'Warm Bodies' (2013) was coming out seeing the marketing for it everywhere, I couldn't get away from it. And since then it has always occupied a spot in my memory despite the fact I had never seen it. Its odd, of all the films to etch its way into my brain, why this one? Well, in some sort of self medication, and with my lockdown reviews hitting the three week mark, I decided it was finally time to see if this film was worthy of pushing out 7 years worth of brain capacity. The film follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who cannot remember his past, but who wishes to feel normal again. When he and his group attack a group of human survivors, R becomes enamored with a human girl called Julie (Teresa Palmer). He takes her back to the airport, where he lives with hundreds of other zombies, in an attempt to connect with her and feel human again. The more the two connect the more human R becomes, an effect that could change the world of the humans and zombies forever.
So, was this worth 7 years of memory? Probably not, but I still enjoyed it. At its core this film is effectively just a teen rom-com. It has the hallmarks, the meet-cute, the initial misunderstanding of each other, the falling for each other, the fall out, the make up, etc. It's all here in this film. But, of course, the difference here is that one of the lovers is a zombie. Its a really fun concept and leads to a lot of clever and funny moments in the film, especially towards the beginning. As the film moves on it does become more of your standard rom-com fare with regards to the two characters relationship, but the backdrop of an apocalypse and a possible war between humans and zombies does keep it interesting. There are a few moments within the narrative where it feels a little rushed or forced, but it mostly flows well. There is one aspect of the narrative that I just don't understand, but I will get to that shortly. Filmmaking wise the film is solid, although there a couple moments of weird editing and one odd shot choice that sticks out when you watch it, but it is mostly a very well shot and edited film. The soundtrack is properly cliched, but it also chooses songs that work within the narrative and help to express emotions of the characters without words. Its not particularly subtle, but its a zombie film so whatever. The film is funny for the most part, although there are a couple attempts at comedy which didn't really land and some of the emotional moments of the film I felt pretty little during. One of these emotional moments comes as a consequence of that narrative thread I mentioned before. So, SPOILER AND RANT WARNING. Julie has a boyfriend, Perry (Dave Franco), at the start of the film. Perry is killed by R during the scene where him and Julie first meet. But he didn't just kill him, he ate the poor bugger's brains. Yes, he ate Julie's boyfriend's brains. Now, this is not necessarily a problem in a zombie film. After all, zombies eat brains. But the zombies that eat brains don't go on to forge romantic relationships with the girlfriend of the person's brain they ate. R does admit that he did this to Julie, to which her reaction might as well just have been 'meh'. Yeah, she is initially upset and runs off, but next time we see her she is chatting about R with reverence and the fact he ate her boyfriend's brains never comes up again. The film takes place in the span of a week and Julie goes from having a boyfriend (who she is not shown to dislike by the way) have his brains eaten by a zombie to basically fucking that zombie with no remorse. It's a really rushed narrative aspect of the film and also has so little effect on the film overall that it might as well not be there. There are a lot of ways you can have the two fall out without having one of them eat the others boyfriend's brains. Again, for those in the back, he ate her boyfriend's brains!
The acting in the film is all solid, even if a couple of the performances are basically just the actors playing themselves. This is mostly the case for Dave Franco and John Malkovich, who plays Grigio, Julie's dad. Neither of the performances are bad, but the characters may as well be called Dave Franco and John Malkovich. I want to give a shout out to Rob Corddry as M, another zombie. He plays a zombie well, but then manages to capture the change of emotion as he starts to become more human. He is very much a side character, but his journey was one I was invested in and Corddry's performance helps with that. The two stars of the film are Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. Both put in good performances which carry the film. They manage to carry the emotional weight of the film well and have good chemistry which makes there relationship seem legit. A special shout out to Nicholas Hoult who plays the part of a zombie really well, but also manages to make the character relatable, likeable and sympathetic. His zombie body movements are also very solid.
I can now finally put 'Warm Bodies', a film that had buried itself in my brain, to bed. It is not a film so good that it was worth the 7 year build up, but it is an enjoyable one none the less. The narrative can feel rushed and forced at times and there is that one narrative thread that is ridiculous and really doesn't need to be there. But it is a well acted and shot film with a fun concept that manages to keep the entertainment factor up for the whole runtime. I would recommend the film. Its quite a light and fun watch, and during this time that's something we could probably all do with.