Warm Bodies

This movie caught my attention solely because it looked like it was actually trying to do something a little different for a change. So I was interested enough to see it, and while the movie itself may not have actually turned out to be the most original thing around, it was definitely worth checking out nonetheless. It's overall just a really nice, clever little movie that'll leave you feeling warm inside.

The premise is that the zombie apocalypse has happened, but after a beautiful human girl named Julie catches the eye of one zombie named... well, he can't actually remember his name, but he knows it begins with an R (maybe it stands for Romeo, perhaps? Oh don't worry, their names aren't even the least subtle Romeo and Juliet reference this movie makes), it's love at first sight. And the more human contact R experiences, the more he begins to regain his lost humanity.

It's not the first movie to tackle such a subject (Wall-E instantly comes to mind), but I liked the approach here. Earlier on, as we're walked through the average day in the life of a zombie, our narrator, R, begins to question what life must have been like before the apocalypse. And what we see is a bunch of people wandering around with their eyes glued to their cell phones and other gadgets, completely ignoring everyone else around them, which I really got a good kick out of. So you see, we've been zombies well before the zombie outbreak even happened!

I really enjoyed seeing life through the eyes of a zombie, and the movie was very humorous and clever with its approach, essentially treating zombies as an extreme equivalent of social awkwardness. And the zombies' progression towards regaining their humanity played out very naturally I felt. For instance, as the love story progresses between R and Julie, R starts to feel real human emotions again. And once things start to turn a bit sour between them, he also feels the accompanying painful emotions, which makes him want to just go back to being a dead, emotionless zombie again, something I found to be totally relatable and, dare I say, human.

There were a few times where something about the plot would bother me, such as how Julie just happened to get over her boyfriend's death rather easily. Though pretty much every time something like this came to mind, the movie eventually got around to addressing these issues, and lo and behold, I no longer took issue with them. Like, later on, when the zombies and humans are all teaming up against the "bonies" (which are essentially zombies stripped down to their skeletal state, completely devoid of any remaining remorse or humanity), I thought that it was kinda messed up, all things considered. And then, sure enough, the movie ends up agreeing with me. It was, in fact, a pretty messed up resolution, but, eh? So yeah, I liked that the movie was constantly aware of itself in this regard.

The acting was also pretty decent for the most part. Nicholas Hoult really brought R to life (ha!), both in his zombie state as well as his more human narration, though some of the other zombies, such as Rob Corddry, had a harder time finding a good balance. But I also enjoyed the rest of the cast for the most part as well, even if there wasn't necessarily any real standouts here.

I just really liked this movie quite a bit. It's just such a charming, heart warming take on the zombie genre. It's cleverly written, with a good sense of humor about itself, and a nice social commentary on today's technologically obsessed society and our decreasing human interactions. And that being said, I hope you enjoyed this latest blog of mine, and I hope you'll stay glued to your computers for the next one to come, too!