Review of Warm Bodies (2013) by Hoops2448 — 21 Mar 2013

Ever thought Romeo and Juliet was a bit stuffy, a little too formal and hard to relate to? Warm Bodies finds the perfect remedy, Zombies of course. R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who is remarkably verbose in his own head falls for Julie (Theresa Palmer), a human he saves when his pack of zombies attacks her and her friends who are scavenging supplies.

The two begin to bond and realise that R is not like your conventional zombie and he could hold the key to reversing the apocalypse. Unlike any other zombie film including Zombieland, Warm Bodies has a powerful sense of emotion and understands one of the most important concepts/themes from all zombie films, the loss of humanity.

The idea that its not just the zombies that lose who they used to be but the humans as well. This is something that is expertly handled in 28 days later and its surprising how Director Johnathon Levine manages to display this basic tenet of zombie lore just as well but in a completely different way.

The use of flashbacks in the film is impressive as it does it in an original way while also giving the film a much needed back story for Julie, a girl who is unintentionally soured by the apocalypse yet still has a light and beauty befitting a modern day Juliet, the Juliet Levine envisioned.

R on the other hand is fleshed out through his own inner monologue, Levine's version of Shakespeare's soliloquies. This voice over gives a good impression not just zombie R but human R. However the monologuing gets irritating after a while as you become more invested in what he does instead of what he thinks, one of the main problems with Romeo and Juliet as a play as well.

R spouts some great comic lines in his head but much of the comedy comes from his utterly uncomfortable actions in trying to become Julie's friend. The chemistry between Hoult and Palmer is good and overall Palmer is very impressive which came as a pleasant surprise for someone who watched I Am Number Four.

Overall the film has very few flaws but even without flaws it doesn't wow in the way I thought it would or expected from the director of 50/50, one of the best films of 2011. Also the ending is incredibly rushed even though the film could have done with an extra few minutes to make the conclusion seem even remotely plausible.

In fact the film just kind of ends, like this....