Jono Goes To The Movies: Warm Bodies

A few months ago a friend told me there was a movie being made about a zombie who becomes self-aware, falls in love and tries to change. I thought it was a hilarious concept but had absolutely no idea how they would pull it off. You could either make it an over the top comedy, a sappy love story, or a dry tongue-in-cheek film hoping people would see the subtle ridiculousness. Well, it seems the result is a combination of all three potential routes. As always, I would've enjoyed a bigger percentage of humor or seriousness, but this treaded on some strange waters where it left me second-guessing if I really liked what was going on or was just mesmerized by Hollywood's less scandalous answer to Kristen Stewart, the beautiful Teresa Palmer.

At first I thought it was strange that the star of Warm Bodies was Josh Hartnett playing himself. About 30 minutes into the film I realized it was actually an actor Nicholas Hoult playing a zombie. Close enough, I guess. At first you get annoyed with the narrative of R (the lead zombie) and the way he's limping, and the Twilight-esque makeup on his face. Over time you get used to it and start focusing a little more on the story. Like I mentioned above, the comedic elements were saved in a few spots but I don't think they were executed with the "oomph" that the writers had hoped to achieve. The zombies start talking (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer) and some even swear… wow… crazy! There's also times you start questioning things happening in the plot… until you realize zombies don't exist so there's a little bit of leg room for embelishment.

Seeing John Malkovich in the opening credits got my hopes pretty high, because anything he touches turns to gold. Unfortunately he didn't have a major role, let alone a bizarre/humorous role in this story. Rob Corddry was one of the most lovable characters as R's close zombie friend, but it seems they tried to dump all of the jokes into his mumbling zombie mouth.

It was light-hearted and nice, but when your friends ask you what you did last night, you probably won't remember. Seems they could have spent a bit more time writing and avoided the Disney overtones even though it was supposed to be an "edgy dark" comedy. I normally don't give a rating, and I can't say it "sucked" or it was "great", but I'll give it a about 70%.

Originally Posted by Jason Tate

Might see.

this is a definitely rental for me. also going to rent FLIGHT tonight so I'm excited for that.

Originally Posted by billyboatkid

It's not what you'd expect.

well isn't basically a legal/court drama-thriller, I know it has very little to do with flying airplanes haha