So generally how love stories become blockbuster hits nowadays is to pair a normal human girl with a supernatural being-- never mind that in this case he comes in the form of a corpse. Hey, whatever works right? And I think the reason why guys would be a little more accepting of this scenario than Twilight is because a.) he doesn't sparkle, and b.) they're placed in the middle of a war torn Zombie Apocalypse. I think it also helps that the narration comes from our guy R, who's anything but the typical flawless leading guy you see in movies. He's expressionless, awkward, a bit gross, and to top it all off he's a Zombie that happens to eats human brains. Oddly enough, a Zombie guy point of view is quite refreshing.
But
apparently he's not your typical average Zombie. He's sentimental, very
conscious of his lack of social abilities, and introspective as he
strives to find meaning in his mundane day to day existence. And find it
he did when one day he goes on a routine human eating spree with his
Zombie friends, and there meets the girl who makes everything run on
slow motion and switch on romantic background music.
This is where Warm Bodies remind me a bit of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where the seemingly hideous and frightening Zombie takes the beautiful girl in his castle, I mean, private airplane, and during their time together she realizes that the Zombie is not that scary after all. I think this can be the best parts of the movie when you see R being funny, endearing, and even cute. It's comical the thoughts that run through his head sometimes. But all good things must come to an end when she goes back and we see R being miserable again, like on the inside, because he pretty much looks the same either way.
But in actuality, something in him is actually really changing, along with his other Zombie friends. So he went to the human zone, throwing all caution out the window to tell the one girl who actually makes him feel alive! (And in this case, that's both figuratively and literally speaking.) Then get this, we actually get the rare opportunity to see the guy having the make-over this time, which kinda made him hot but gay at the same time.
Of course that plan didn't work, so this is where the fighting is supposed to start. Though there's just some running, scuffling, and yeah maybe a little fighting that could have been better, but the important thing is that people see that the Zombies are the good guys now. And just when everyone is safe in numbers jumbled together and helping each other out, our two leads happen to end up all by themselves and cornered by Bonies, great. All hope is not lost as they see a door, that open to a very high ledge, but what could they do but take the leap, Zombie first.
Now I think this is the part where I thought it really did end up like Beauty and the Beast. Like she thought he was dead (well here, like deader than dead) but actually he wasn't, so they kissed and he got shot and bled. Then they were surprised because he is now more human than he himself ever remembers. They find out that love might actually be the cure. Aww, now where have we not heard of that storyline before? A little corny, but I guess that's the way it has to be.
Overall I think the premise of having a funny Zombie Romeo in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse is quite new and maybe even cute. I thought the cinematography was also cool, especially in the beginning with R introducing himself and waiting in the airport. Then it's good how they were able to paint a pretty realistic scenario of how a Zombie infestation would look like, along with some startling scenes that you shouldn't take away from Zombie movies. And of course there's the music, which was awesome, aptly setting the tone for any cheesy moment.
For some reason though, I didn't think the ending had much of an impact which kinda killed the movie for me, it just ended too smoothy. Everything just got resolved all of a sudden. He got shot, he bled, and then suddenly Julie's military dad was okay with it. Zombies assimilate and the walls come down, THE END. A little too perfect from all the disaster they were coming from. Well, I guess I don't really know how I would end it myself, but with that I give this flick a 70%.
70%
- Might just reach 80%, but there's just something missing. Minor flaws and set
backs. A little predictable but still
pretty watchable and something you might talk about a bit after.
