"Warm Bodies" Movie Review

HEY here is something new; something not anime related! Don't get your hopes up for more posts not anime related but I just recently watched this film with a group of friends and thought it was worth talking about.

So let’s talk about it; the movie is set in a somewhat modern time frame where zombies are running rampant throughout the world. The entire movie takes place in a general area so we never see the effects the outbreak has had on the entire world but the movie still does a decent job creating a very paranoid world for the surviving humans. Without ruining and spoiling the beginning of the movie, some stuff happens and Julie (the main female lead) ends up residing with the zombie R at an abandoned airport filled with other zombies. Most zombies are all brain dead and are not capable of thought provoking ideas but R seems to be able to think, act, and talk on the level of a normal (errr somewhat slow) human. As the story progresses we see that R begins to take on more and more human characteristics as well as regain some of the key vital signs of being human. R has only one real (zombie) friend named M that does not play a huge role until the middle part of the movie. From there on out he becomes a key part of the final act. 

It’s actually quite difficult to talk about the movie without giving anything important away. The trailers made the movie look like it was going to be much more action orientated with fights between the zombies and humans but what really happened was 95% romantic comedy and 5% guns blazing. Note that this isn’t a bad thing and in fact is a great thing. If you want a guns blazing zombie film with comedy then go watch Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead. This movie gives us the fill we need for combining a light hearted romance with the oh so overused zombie genera. What I can tell you about the movie is that the character development between R and Julie seems quite forced in the beginning but after a while they do seem to develop some chemistry (even though there is something real f$#ked up about what R does to get to know her better…). The supporting cast (essentially the zombie M and Julie’s friend Nora) do not play huge roles until the later half of the movie but when it is their time to shine, they do a pretty good job advancing the plot. 

The locations for the movie were actually picked fairly well. The abandoned airport had a very eerie feeling which seemed to make it the perfect place for a bunch of zombies. We do not get to see very much of the human’s camp or the area between the camp and the airport so if the whole airport setting doesn’t do it for you, you might find this a turn off. The costume design and makeup for the movie was pretty spot on (it shouldn’t be that hard to dress up zombies with some old raggedy clothes) throughout the entire film. The clothes for R and M were torn and ripped in many places but they had a certain “sheen” to them that made them appealing and fitting.

Who ever was in charge of the makeup department should be praised.

The performances were in my opinion pretty good. It took me a while to warm up to Julie but once the chemistry between her and R sparks, she was enjoyable to watch. The supporting cast did a very good job…supporting the main cast. M provides help in the most key moments of the movie and Nora sort of does as well. Being a romantic comedy there was...you know…comedy in it. The zombies R and M have many conversations that include some hilarious slapstick comedy (NOTE: if you do not like short slapstick type jokes then 80% of this movie will not be appealing to you). Overall the actors did a great job creating some enjoyable scenes.

The back and forth scenes between R and M are basic but priceless

Overall the film exceeded my expectations even if the trailers made it look like a more action orientated film. It starts out a little slow for my tastes but by the end of the film I had a pretty big grin on my face. SPOILER: I will go out and say that the whole “love will make zombies come back to life” thing was pretty lame but it did serve as a suitable plot device for this film. I was glad that this was not a typical high adrenaline zombie killing movie; it’s nice to see a different aspects injected into the genera.

Final Score: 7.5/10