Nicholas Sparks this ain't

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2013)

When the zombie craze hit America, circa 2009, it seemed to have swept everyone up except for myself. What can I say, I guess zombies just aren't something I will make a totally conscious effort to watch. I've enjoyed several zombie movies in my day, including George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland, but have never watched a full minute of AMC's The Walking Dead. Perhaps I've just thrown all my zombie-credibility down the drain by revealing that.
Nevertheless, I can hold an opinion on Johnathan Levine's Warm Bodies, a somewhat unique romantic-horror story centering on the romance between a beautiful living girl and an attractive dead boy. We open by seeing "R" (Nicholas Hoult), a young zombie wandering around an airport after a fairly recent zombie apocalypse that has claimed a good portion of the country's citizens. "R" can not speak coherently, holding conversations with passersby that rarely channel anything besides grunts and muffled groans. We get all his internal thoughts through open narration about how he can not remember his name, or how he became a zombie in the first place, and just wants to go back to being a normal human being.
One day, "R" and a group of other dead souls run into a group of perfectly undead ones and a shootout begins. "R" winds up feasting on the brains of an innocent young male, and begins to get the man's memories flowing through his head. In them, he sees a beautiful, young, vibrant woman of golden blonde hair (his girlfriend), who just happens to be in the same room as this shootout is unfolding. She is Julie Grigio (Teresa Palmer), who "R" looks not to harm, but to protect from the undead army of people invading the remainder of the country. He takes her to an airplane that will serve as their closeted sanctuary, where she will teach him the ways of a human, and he will assure she is protected and cared for properly. The only minor problem is that Julie's oppressive dad (John Malkovich) runs a violent human group that is hellbent on searching for zombies and slaying them on impact.
Writer/director Levine, who, two years ago, made one of the most heartwarming comedy-dramas of 2011, 50/50, juggles two genres here that haven't had the best treatment in recent years. The horror genre, which is so dreadfully lifeless it mimics the onslaught of zombies brought forth in this picture, and the romantic comedy genre, which is usually just reduced to incredulity and emotional manipulation, are merged with somewhat satisfactory results, yet this leaves the tone of Warm Bodies jumping all over the place. One thing that remains consistent, however, is the slowburn technique that Levine employs early. The film takes a while to get from place to place, and rarely focuses on anyone either than Hoult and Palmer, leaving a lion's weight of dependability on their chemistry together. Their chemistry works and elevates the film to a respectful status, and is without hesitation, the best part about this film.
The problem with the tone is the main distraction, though. Warm Bodies jumps into so many different genre pools that it only manages to pull them off fairly, without much notable charm. The genre that comes out with the most due payed to it is definitely the romantic one, and as one watches the inevitability unfold, it's nothing but blunt to the audience that this is trying to attract the tween audience and get them hooked on what aspires to be the next big thing. Comparisons to the Twilight series have already been made, but this is a far less melodramatic exercise than those films proved to be. Yet, while Warm Bodies may provide one of the love interests with a different twist, it still carries us down the path of contrivance and inevitability we can foresee before the halfway point.
Had this been R-rated, no pun intended, the horror possibilities could've been further exploited and the story may have evolved into something more than tween-fare. Alas, this isn't how the idea came to fruition, and perhaps this tween direction would've been more profitable and well-received than the path I would've rather seen this story take. Everyone involved is capable, the inspiration drawn from Romeo and Juliet is apparent, and the idea of focusing on a zombie character for once is a good one, and it should satisfy those seeking out a different kind of romantic comedy that injects flavor, wit, style, and potency without bearing the name "Nicholas Sparks." But the girls who are "creeped out" by zombies can comfortably standby for two weeks when Valentine's Day brings a film more up their alley.
Starring: Nicholas Hault, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, and Rob Corddry. Directed by: Johnathan Levine.