Review of Warm Bodies (2013) by Miro J — 01 Feb 2015

Combine the modern day genre of romantic comedy (rom com), zombies who love eating human brains (YUMMM!), and certain aspects of Romeo and Juliet on the big screen and what do you get? Why director Jonathan Levine's film, Warm Bodies, of course! While not an outright, traditional, version of one of The Bard's most popular and famous plays; Levine does a fantastic job at dropping subtle hints and reminiscent bits and pieces of Romeo and Juliet here and there which makes this film a refreshing take on the play and an almost needed break from films from the past few years which try really hard (almost too hard) to capture the true essence of this Shakespearean love story turned tragedy.

At first I was a little wary of being able to enjoy the film because I was afraid it would have a certain 'cheese' factor. A zombie who falls in love with a human reminded me of The Twilight Saga and it was a chance I almost didn't want to take. However, Warm Bodies takes Romeo and Juliet and gives it a modern makeover. While it's not in your face traditional Shakespeare like recent films (Carlo Carlei's 2013 Romeo and Juliet version for example) I think that this is what makes this film work best. It's far enough removed from the original text that it doesn't make the viewer nitpick what's deleted or what text the director left out. It makes it more enjoyable to watch. And for viewers who may not be one hundred percent familiar with the original play, they may not catch on to it at all.

The character's names are the most blatant references to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. We have two main characters, R and Julie. R (played by Nicholas Holt) is a zombie who begins experiencing human like emotions for a human girl, Julie (played by Teresa Palmer). Then we have M, R's best friend (playing off of Mercutio), and Perry, the guy who Julie is 'meant to be with' (playing off of Paris). To compare the film to the play even further beyond the names (because, what's in a name anyways?) there are two warring houses; the zombies and the humans. Julie's father (Grigio, played by John Malkovich) is the militant leader of the Humans. Much like the play, we don't get many glimpses of R's family; Julie's does play a major role. In place of swords, we have guns. However, in true rom com fashion, instead of a prolonged death by poison, we get a much happier ending.

The best character of the film for me was R. Nicholas Holt did an outstanding job at truly embodying the zombie like features of his character. He even at one point attempts to teach Julie how to act like a zombie as well. The narration of R's character was very fitting. Paired with the eighties soundtrack for the film, it gives off a feeling of longing and nostalgia that plays very well with the attitude of R. He longs for the days of when his now empty airport home was filled with, well, warm bodies. Holt does a great job at personifying zombie turned human.

The film doesn't use Shakespearean language but it does contain one of the most important scenes from Romeo and Juliet...the balcony scene. R arrives at Julie's house to warn her of impeding danger from The Bonies where he is quickly whisked inside. While they do not consummate any sort of marriage/relationship like in past adaptations or in fact in the play, we see his love and emotion for Julie truly grow to an all-time high at this point.

Many recent adaptations of Shakespearean plays have attempted (and many have truly failed) to capture the 'true essence' of what is Shakespeare. If we consider the most recent Romeo and Juliet adaptation by Carlo Carlei we see a completely different take on this particular tragedy. While trying to stick to traditional ways, he falls short of exemplifying any type of true emotion portrayed by the leading characters. The film is so in your face Shakespeare that true fans of The Bard will walk away disappointed. And people not closely attached to the play will more than likely be turned off by the film.

Warm Bodies is the opposite. It is one hundred percent modern and allows both lovers of Shakespeare and those simply just familiar with Shakespeare something to enjoy. Lovers of Shakespeare won't spend copious amounts of time picking out what's true and what's not whereas those without a serious attachment will still be able to laugh along and follow the plot. I think this is the most important characteristic of making Shakespeare modern on film - making it enjoyable for both sides to watch.