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After a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
When it comes to the zombie genre, there are those who say Romero’s 1968 feature, “Night of the Living Dead,” the film that started it all, is canon and that nothing else matters. Zack Snyder, whose 2004 “Dawn of the Dead,” itself a remake of Romero’s 1978 sequel to his ’68 classic, would disagree. Romero’s zombies were slow-moving and easy to get away from, whereas Snyder introduced running zombies, the type that would cause you to soil yourself were you to see one coming your way. Granted, many will say that Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later,” which came out in 2002, technically introduced the world to fast-running zombies, but in the overall context of that story, they weren’t zombies but people who had become infected by a rage-inducing virus. In the end though, if they caught you, they tore you apart, sort of like a zombie would do so in my book, they’re pretty much one and the same. While I am open to both sides, I love when a filmmaker tries to add a completely new element to the zompocalypse that has never been seen before. While Romero would go on to repeat himself time and again, with the likes of “Day of The Dead,” “Land of the Dead,” “Diary of the Dead,” “Planet of the Dead,” and “Universe of the Dead” (okay those last two were made up but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to imagine the series going that far), director Jonathan Levine (“All the Boys Love Mandy Lane,” “50/50”), put forth his own take on the zombie holocaust with “Warm Bodies.”
Like so many other stories of its ilk, it’s never really explained how the world came to be infected by zombies and personally, I never care about this aspect. Even shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead,” never really give an explanation as to how the outbreak came to be but it is what it is and I’m fine with that, we’re in a world with zombies and we have to try and survive. We are introduced to R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who is able to narrate the film and tell us what is going on. He shuffles aimlessly around the airport which he and many other zombies now call home, they go out during the day to try and find food and at night, they come back to the airport. R however, has a place of his own. He has taken over an airplane and in the evenings, plays records and relaxes in his first class seat. One day, Julie (Teresa Palmer), her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco), best friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and a small group of survivors, make their way outside the safe zone which is run by Julie’s father, General Grigio (John Malkovich). While trying to get medical supplies, a horde of zombies attacks them. When Perry shoots R, R grabs him and kills him but when he turns his attention towards the remaining survivors, his dead heart skips a beat when he sees the ferocious but beautiful Julie. Watching her fight the zombies in slow motion, suddenly makes R not want to eat her, but save her. When her remaining friends are all killed, he covers her face in blood so that the other zombies won’t smell her and they leave.
He takes her back to his plane and through the occasional grunt, is able to communicate with her. Over the next few days, the two bond and R slowly begins to feel more human again. Watching Julie and being near to her, his dead heart occasionally begins to beat but eventually, he knows he must return her to her compound. When M (Rob Corddry), R’s best friend appears and tries to attack Julie, R pushes him away and initially confused, M tries to insist that they eat her but R refuses to do so. As R and Julie walk away holding hands, that sight alone begins to cause M and the other zombies to remember moments from their past, memories that up to now, they couldn’t recall. Like R, their hearts start to beat, albeit very sporadically but with the ferocious “Boneys,” skeletal leaders of the dead who can move swiftly and smell a heartbeat a mile away, in close pursuit, they catch up with R to help him get Julie back home. As they near the compound, however, Julie is faced with an even bigger dilemma: her father. With her mother having succumbed to a zombie attack and her father absolutely fearless when it comes to killing the undead, Julie must try and prove to him that the zombies are capable of returning to their former selves and becoming human again, just like R, but with the Boneys not too far behind, she’ll have her work cut out for her.
The underlying narrative here is that love conquers all and I have to agree with that sentiment. Love can tear down walls, and build friendships so in this world, as R gradually begins to fall in love with Julie, his heart slowly comes back to life until they finally kiss and he is totally human again. Far-fetched? Hell yes but in this story’s lexicon, it works. Both Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer are perfect for each other and it is because of them that the story works, preposterous elements or not, for better or for worse. Director Jonathan Levine has all the necessary ingredients of a zombie apocalypse down pat, the abandoned airport, the huge wall surrounding the city separating the dead from the undead, and early on during the first attack on Julie and her friends, the camera doesn’t shy away from some blood and gore so while the love aspect comes into play later in the story, early on, what we are accustomed to seeing in these types of movies, is very real. Blu-ray has been the top-rated format for movies since 2006 but now with 4K Ultra HD (4K is four times better than Blu-ray), studios are releasing some of their older titles on this format and all I can say to you is wow! Watching “Warm Bodies” or any other 4K Ultra HD movie on a 4K TV and Blu-ray player is a huge, noticeable difference. For some people, Blu-ray is fine, some of my friends still watch DVD but to each their own. I made the leap to 4K and am loving every minute of it. If you get the chance to upgrade too, you will not be disappointed!
Available on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack Tuesday, October 3rd from Lionsgate
