Warm Bodies

Rating: 6/10 (3 July 2013)

I saw Film 2013 with Claudia Winkleman and Danny reviewing this film, it sounded like a really interesting alternative zombie film, and the title certainly gave me a clue of the premise I heard described, from director Jonathan Levine (50/50). Basically the world has been devastated by a zombie apocalypse, and R (About a Boy's Nicholas Hoult) is one of those zombies, and despite being dead, not remembering his full first that begins with the letter "R" and needing to find human flesh he has a personality and soul of sorts. One day while looking with his group of other zombie for food he comes across humans, including Julie Grigio (Teresa Palmer) who with her group was searching for medical supplies, he is drawn to her, and while she is distracted he eats the brain of her boyfriend Perry (Dave Franco, James's brother), which gives him his memories. R rescues and takes Julie to his empty aeroplane safe place, she is for a while fearful of him, but slowly they bond, and he is slowly gaining his life back, including speech and speed, but she tries to get away a couple of times, which only attract the attention of other zombies. It comes to the point when he agrees to help her back to the humans where she came from, so he helps her travel, but he is honest to her and admits to eating Perry, so she abandons him and he heads back to the airport heartbroken, but other zombies are gaining their lives back as well, making them vulnerable to the Bonies, skeletal zombies that have no humanity and will eat anything with a heartbeat. R and his friend M (Hot Tub Time Machine's Rob Corddry) manage to get into the human shelter, and they find Julie with her friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and revealing the zombies' lives returning they try to convince military leader and Julie's father Colonel Grigio (John Malkovich), but he refuses to believe that corpses can change, he even threatens to kill R. With this R and Julie run away to a near baseball stadium, but there is a horde of Bonies ready to attack, trapped the only escape route is to jump into a pool far below, so they jump and she is shielded by his body, and having survived the two of them share a kiss, and this fully restores R back to human form, he is shot by the Colonel and bleeds which confirms this. In the end humans and zombies combine forces to kill the population of Bonies, most of them are wiped out and those remaining die of starvation, and all zombies slowly gain back their humanity, life goes to back to the days before the apocalypse, and R and Julie watch as the wall surrounding the city to separate the original two populations is pulled down. Also starring Cory Hardrict as Kevin and Vincent Leclerc as Perry's Dad. Hoult being for most of the film almost completely emotionless but gaining back his life is great at carrying the film, with his narration as well, Palmer is likable and pretty as his love interest, and Malkovich is reasonable being easily angered and strict. This a terrifically unconventional love story between someone dead and someone living, and it almost removes all the rules for conventional zombie films where they would normally be mindless and completely savage, it has the small creepy moments, but mostly it made me laugh, it is a fun romantic comedy horror. Good!