Check that - I should say I like zombies in the movies and TV shows. I don't personally know any zombies, so I 'm not sure what I would think of them if I met one in person. I suspect I wouldn't like them much, but a new movie, Warm Bodies, is out that may change my mind. I've watched a couple of entertaining and funny zombie flicks (Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead come to mind), but I had yet to see a zombie love story. This move changes that!
"R" (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie, and the story is told from his point of view. We hear his inner monologue, which is much more eloquent than the grunts and growls he is able to express out loud. R can't remember his name, and knows something is missing, but he just can't seem to get it out. He and his "best friend" - played by veteran character actor Rob Corddry - can't communicate, but hang out together, making this one of the strangest buddy films of all time.
R knows something is missing, but just can't put his finger on it. That all changes when he and a group of fellow zombies attack a scavenging party of survivors. R kills and eats the brain of Perry (Dave Franco), gaining some of his memories in the process. Perry's girlfriend, Julie (Teresa Palmer) is also there, and some of the residual feelings from Perry's brain cause R to save her from the other zombies.
Nothing that follows will surprise you, as R becomes more and more lifelike as he takes care of Julie. There are some funny bits as R struggles to communicate, a confrontation with Julie's father (John Malkovich), and a climatic struggle between good and evil - just an ordinary day in the life of a zombie.
Warm Bodies isn't a great movie. It's dumb, and the logic of it breaks down if you're paying attention, but this movie isn't about paying attention. It's a unique concept, and has some really funny moments. It's a great send up of movies like the Twilight series, which have humans romantically involved with vampires and werewolves. If that can happen, why can't your daughter hook up with a zombie?
You could make a case that the zombies lovers represent same sex or mixed race couples, but really, if you're looking for deeper meaning here, you're missing the point. This is a funny movie, more in the tradition of The Naked Gun than Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Don't expect to learn anything - just relax and enjoy the fun.
Sounds like fun, if I could buy the premise - even for a comedy.
ReplyDeleteVampires were always supposed to be seductive. That was part of the mythology. But zombies? A rotting corpse is a rotting corpse, right?
Then again, they're both undead, so I don't suppose there's that much difference...