Every time I go to the movies, it rains. I seem to choose all the wrong days to shuffle down Chicago streets soaked to the bone in anticipation of the next big feature. Not that I watch movies very often, but once in a while a trailer sparks my curiosity.
That’s what happened with Jonathan Levine’s “Warm Bodies” with the incredibly gorgeous and well-known (in the UK) actor Nicholas Hoult. I remember when he played a cocky heartthrob in the British teen drama “Skins” for the first two seasons, and how he appeared on Nevermind the Buzzcocks with Simon Amstell still hosting the show. Those were the days of Nick Hoult being innocently evil, sugar-coated in flirtatious teenagery and killing his female generation’s hearts with a crooked smile. Now having put all that behind him, he stars in a zombie movie. If it was anybody else, I would be skeptical and never end up leaving my house for some romantic zombie movie in the middle of a Chicago rainy winter. But there is something alluring about Nick Hoult, helped by the fact that apparently he’s got another movie coming out, and as I sat in the movie theater waiting for “Warm Bodies” to start, I saw a trailer for “Jack the Giant Slayer” that he also stars in. Good for him, since not a lot of British actors make it out to the big world of cinema (aka movies they show in the United States).
I am going to be honest: I loved it! “Warm Bodies” is a combination of everything I love to hate about current commercial cinema, with its overly simplified characters and a somewhat alluring plot line. John Malkovich portrays an annoyingly skeptical father figure wielding guns and severe justice in the form of “shoot first, ask questions later”. He is probably the weakest link in the entire hour and half of action, although without him there would be no twist toward the end.
It didn’t hit me until about three quarters into the movie that there is a catch: her name is Julie, his name starts with an R. Her wannna-be nurse friend is Nora. There is a balcony scene. Yes, it smells like Shakespeare and that smartly weaved-in idea tarnishes the movie just a tiny bit. However, I probably should mention that if somebody hadn’t pointed it out to me, I would not even have noticed. The subtlety of this gesture to our all-time favorite playwright makes the movie seem more intelligent and upscale instead of cheap and vulgar.
The main premise of the movie is a clever twist on an otherwise overused story of zombies versus humans. What if zombies came back to life, again? What if underneath all the dead skin and the grunting and the slow shuffle there are still feelings and thoughts left? What if they can be turned back to being alive, with actual blood pumping and hearts beating? Of course the soppy solution is falling in love, but we are talking about a romantic movie after all. The scene with Julie’s and R’s first kiss was ingenious because it almost made me scream out loud: death breath, dead teeth, gross!
What makes the movie really lovable are the characters, especially Nick Hoult’s lovely portrayal of an intelligent zombie in love. He is so sweet that we somehow forget that at the beginning he eats the brains of Julie’s boyfriend and manages to manipulate her into liking him partly by having her boyfriend’s memories. We also turn a blind eye to the many questions that arise, such as: how did the zombies appear in the first place, why is R different than the others and why do the “Boneys” run so fast whereas your ordinary zombie is slower than a turtle?
It’s not the most thought-provoking film out there, I will admit. But the sincerity of the story and the brilliant portrayal of zombie feelings left me with a warm feeling and a positive outlook on any future upcoming zombie apocalypse. This movie manages to make you fall in love with actual walking corpses, and to root for their survival even though they feast on human flesh. That, in my opinion, is quite an achievement.
P.S. Funny ending to my story: when I came home, my roommate was watching “The Walking Dead”. Coincidences don’t just happen.
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