Movie Review: Warm Bodies (2013)
Warm Bodies has a familiar premise: love conquers all. But the well-examined idea of love conquering all is wrapped in a horror coating. The thing love has to conquer in Warm Bodies is death. In this world, the surviving humans have been confined to a walled section of the city while the dead shamble freely. The movie wants to be a horror rom-com, but with its PG-13 rating, it’s not much of a horror movie, and unfortunately when the bodies start to warm up, the romance falls flat.
The story begins eight years after a plague of unknown origin sweeps across the land turning many into zombies. Zombies have no memories of who they are, cannot sleep or dream, and crave human flesh. If you’re bitten and your brain is left intact, then you will come back as a walking corpse. However not many zombies leave the brain because, as R tells us, the brain is the best part. Zombies can’t talk, so we learn about the lives of the corpses from R’s voiceovers. An interesting twist to zombie lore is the fact that eating the brain will give the eater the victim’s memories. According to R, this allows zombies brief moments of feeling alive. Although he knows he is dead, R is an anomaly; he yearns for more than shuffling around the airport and conversing in grunts with his best friend M (Rob Corddry).
R and other zombies have taken over the airport, a place that normally allows freedom of movement. R wants more than the existence he has; he wants to move forward. Although he doesn’t have his memories, he misses being alive. Unable to speak, R lets music speak for him. He has a vinyl collection (the sound is more “alive” than digital), and he plays selections such as John Waite’s Missing You when he sits in his airplane looking at his collectables or Bruce Springsteen’s Hungry Heart when he brings Julie back to his home.
Nicholas Hoult as R
The soundtrack is one of the strongest parts of the film. Each song is carefully chosen, articulating R’s emotions or adding to the humor. One of the funniest moments comes when Nora (Analeigh Tipton) starts to play the Roy Orbison classic Oh, Pretty Woman during the makeover scene. Director Jonathan Levine knows exactly when a piece of music is needed, and he even uses Scorpions’ Rock You Like a Hurricane in an unexpected way.
Most of the humor comes from how R interacts with and reacts to the situations around him. Nicholas Hoult skillfully brings his undead character to life. Hoult, the boy from About a Boy and Hank McCoy/Beast in X-Men: First Class, makes R charming and earnest. He is a zombie from head to toe, and he never forgets what stage he is in. Whether he’s pure zombie or almost zombie, Hoult’s body and demeanor reflect R’s progression. By doing this, he is able to deliver in moments such as his conversations with M, driving with Julie, and trying to watch Julie undress.
The core of the film is the unconventional love story between the dead R and the living Julie. Hoult gives everything he can to show R falling in love with Julie. However, Teresa Palmer as Julie is not convincing in her love for R. Palmer is great in the first half of the film. Julie is terrified when she meets R; this is logical since he is part of a pack of zombies that attacked her group. He rescues her instead of eating her, and during their time together, she becomes fascinated by R. She stares at R as the oddity he is; she examines him like he is a bug pinned in a display case. Palmer and Hoult lack romantic chemistry, which is evident when they kiss. Julie’s actions seem to stem from a place of curiosity and budding friendship, not lust or love.
Teresa Palmer as Julie and Nicholas Hoult as R
Their lack of chemistry hurts the last third of the film. Seeing them fall in love is supposed to be the emotional wave that carries viewers through the film, but their lukewarm romance fails to overcome the underlying creepiness of their relationship. R being dead is not the source of the creepiness, his killing her boyfriend is. We need to believe Julie can look past R killing her boyfriend. We have to believe her passion for R is intense enough to erase that fact from our minds because she has to be able to forgive R and his actions to be with him. Unfortunately, Palmer does not match Hoult’s intensity. I believe R loves Julie, but I don’t believe Julie really loves R.
Warm Bodies is supposed to have elements of horror, romance, and comedy. The horror is minimal. The zombies aren’t ugly, and the Boneys, what zombies become if they give up on everything, are obviously CGI. In fact, the TV show The Walking Dead is more gruesome than this film. The relationship between Julie and R is a great friendship, but nothing more. The film does make good on the humor due to the performances of Hoult and Corddry. Hoult really is the one who carries this film. His depiction of R’s yearning to live drives this movie; Hoult’s R is the emotional core of the film, and his humorous and touching journey towards life, not his romance with Julie, makes this story about connecting with others enjoyable to watch.