Despite my intense dislike for all things zombalicious, I’ve been excited about “Warm Bodies” ever since I saw the previews during that hideous movie Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2. I thought the premise was interesting: a young zombie meets a cute girl who revives his cold dead heart. Plus his skin wasn’t peeling off in thick oozing layers. And there was a hint of snarky humor, something I can appreciate.
Alas, the humor is only a hint, the story not as interesting as promised, and most of all, the whole thing just reinforced what I’ve concluded is my main problem with zombies in general–they’re boring. They move in slo-mo, their primary form of communication is grunting, and they eat brains as a main course. What’s so exciting about that? What’s scary about that? Now if they could turn invisible, moved faster than the speed of light, and sucked your brains out of your left nostril, then that would be a little unsettling.
These zombies? Meh.
Granted, the zombies in “Warm Bodies” are zombie-light on purpose. The main character, R (named thusly because he can’t remember his name) is not your ordinary zombie. For one thing, he speaks in voice-over. Although I don’t usually care for voice-overs in movies, Nicholas Hoult nails this part and the movie as a whole. Oh, the irony that the dead gray guy is the bright shining light in this flick. R’s internal thoughts are both witty and poignant. Hoult also does a great job with the physicality of the role.
And then he meets the blonde…I don’t even remember her name. I’ll just call her KStew II. And the rest of the movie slides into mediocrity, complete with CGI skeletons that were way scarier when they were first done in “The Mummy” over a decade ago (and those were so not scary). Even John Malkovich is wasted in this movie, something I didn’t think could be possible.
However, “Warm Bodies” is near-perfection compared to the Twilight movies, so there’s that. And honestly, the movie would be a good Red Box rental. I’m still intrigued by the premise, so I might just read the book (which as you know is always better than the movie).
Then again…maybe not.