Jonathan Garcia / Staff writer
“Warm Bodies” is a romantic comedy based on the bestselling novel of the same name, by Isaac Marion. The film adaptation stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco and John Malkovich. Having been written and directed by Jonathan Levine, it was quickly compared to the “Twilight Saga” when the film was announced. Due to the fact that it involved a zombie falling in love with a human, it sparked interest in female moviegoers. Male movie-goers, however, might think this movie would be another “Twilight.” After watching the film, it is safe to say it is a good movie and nothing at all like “Twilight.”
The film is set in a zombie apocalypse condition, where zombies like “R” (Hoult) live in a part of town run by the semi-living dead and who wait to feast on flesh. R is conflicted by it, but he has to do it to survive. Another group called Bonies, which all zombies eventually turn into, feast on anything with a pulse.
On the other side of town lives a survivor camp run by Colonel Grigio (Malkovich) who’s rule is “Shoot the zombies on sight.” One day, his daughter Julie (Palmer) and a group of other survivors head outside of the camp to salvage for medical supplies, only to be overrun by zombies. There, R meets Julie, which makes him feel human again. He takes her as company to show her his life. Over a period of time, R relearns how to feel things as well as communicate with Julie. While this is happening, however, the Bonies start to chase them, and R must protect Julie. Eventually, their love starts to affect the other zombies.
The film is surprisingly entertaining, and all the guys getting dragged to this movie with their girlfriends will find themselves enjoying it. It has humor as well as heart, which makes it enjoyable and not just some typical romantic comedy.
Hoult does a great job acting dead as R and narrating the whole story, sharing his perspective on things happening around him. In addition, the chemistry between Palmer and Hoult is actually cute and interesting to watch, which will convince viewers to care about them.
In the end, “Warm Bodies” is a surprisingly good movie that had the potential to be terrible, but under the care and direction of Levine, this movie was fun to watch and worth seeing in theatres.
