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Five years ago Hollywood turned two of the most feared paranormal creatures into love subjects through Twilight, in 2013 it was finally the zombies' turn at romance.
But is Warm Bodies just another cheesy Hollywood product that hopes to ensnare teens and young adults in a love story only to earn a few quick bucks, or are there deeper and more subtle underlying values that we could take away from the film?
But is Warm Bodies just another cheesy Hollywood product that hopes to ensnare teens and young adults in a love story only to earn a few quick bucks, or are there deeper and more subtle underlying values that we could take away from the film?
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Warm Bodies
Language: English
Run Time: 97 minutes // 1 hour 37 minutes
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Romance
Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // PG-13 for zombie violence and some languages
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)
Date-of-Release: 14 March 2013 (Malaysia) // 1 February 2013 (USA)
What is it about?
A zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) formed a relationship with a human survivor Julie (Teresa Palmer) after rescuing her from other zombies. The relationship then started making an impact on themselves and the rest of their community.
Tagline: There's nothing hotter than a girl with brains.
(Read on for Warm Bodies review)
Just two weeks ago, I've watched Nicholas Hoult's performance in Jack the Giant Slayer. It was a little disappointing as he did not have the opportunity to showcase his talents. Fortunately, his part in Warm Bodies offered more range and the viewers got to appreciate a more romantic and humorous side of him. On top of that, I enjoyed the subtle emotions and changes that Nicholas displayed in his performance. He does play "stiff" very well.
[SPOILER ALERT!]
The story started off with an entertaining and cheeky monologue that took place in the head of our zombie, R (played by Nicholas Hoult). He explained the problems he suffered as a zombie which includes the inability to express their feelings and with no memories of his previous life. R also felt that something was missing in his life. Fortunately for R, he had a close friend in the form of another zombie, M (played by funny man, Rob Corddry).
So one day, R and M went out looking for food aka human flesh, in a pack of zombies. One the same day, a small convoy of human survivors were despatched out of the safe-zone to gather supplies from nearby buildings, including Julie (played by Teresa Palmer), Nora (Analeigh Tipton - Yes, she's the girl from Cycle 11 of America's Next Top Model) and Julie's boyfriend Perry (played by Dave Franco - James Franco's brother). Fate had brought these two groups together and everyone in the convoy was killed except for Julie and Nora.
During the attack, R killed Perry and gained his memories by devouring his brains. R had also fallen in love with Julie the first time he set his sights on her. R then rescued Julie from being served as food to the other zombies by covering her with blood and led her back to his safe zone at the airport. Initially terrified, Julie had slowly opened up to R and started to trust him. Their relationship had also unintentionally awoken buried feelings and memories within R and the other zombies - they were slowly turning back to life. However, the bonies (skeletal zombies that have lost all trace of humanities and will eat anything with a heartbeat) discovered the effect that R and Julie had on the other zombies and attacked them.
R and Julie fled from the airport and headed back to the human survivor stronghold. The bonies followed them and was about to threaten the livelihood of the remaining human survivors when they were confronted by M and his zombie friends. During the battle, the survivors had learnt to trust and accept the zombies as they knew it was possible for the zombies to come back to life.
[SPOILER ENDS!]
Throughout the entire story, there were countless of zombie-related jokes and light-hearted moments between the fear of being eaten by zombies. I admit I was half-expecting R to get frustrated along the way and just turn around to bite Julie. The lack of emotions and the precognitive impressions that we have towards zombies would also cause you to wonder if the other zombies will just lose it and started killing the humans. The story mashed fear with comedy very well that it will keep you at the edge of your seat for most parts of the movies.
Then of course, there is the question of the make up and costumes. Although it may not make sense that most of the zombies' clothes are in relatively good condition and appeared less gross compared to other zombie movies, I guess it made the zombies easier to be accepted romantically (At least they do not sparkle, just saying).
Now, Warm Bodies may appear to be another simple film playing around with the Romantic Comedy genre by making a lover out of zombies, I can't help but to think that there's more that meets the eyes. Looking back at the story, R was frustrated for not being able to express himself, to say the things that he wanted to say, or to dream. Once, he even wanted to give up in his struggle to change his way of life and blamed his stupidity for fighting against the norms. In many ways, most of us in the society are zombies in our daily lives. We are so caught up the expectations of others that we live our lives like how everyone else are telling us to, instead of how we really want. We have been told countless of times to be realistic, fell down in life, gotten hurt, disappointed and embarrassed that we are even afraid to dream. In a way, we are just as trapped as the zombies, and are forced to accept the norms of the society that we live in.
On the other hand, the human survivors portrayed a different aspect of our society. They rejected the zombies in the beginning and dismissed them as mindless creatures with only one purpose, which is to feed. They have failed to take the time to understand and stereotyped these creatures until the very end. We shouldn't judge and reject someone so quickly based on some preconceived ideologies. And we have to believe that everyone is able to change for the better, just like the zombies in the movie.
In the world today, there are still prejudices towards minorities all around the globe. Ethnicity, religion, homosexuality, social ranks, occupations - these are but a few of many discriminations people face everyday. How long will we continue to reject others just because they are different from us? One could only hope that one day the human society will be able to emulate the survivors in the film, and pull down the walls that separated themselves and the zombies. And to all you "zombies" out there, it is never too late and it is your privilege as a human to dream.
All in all, Warm Bodies is more than just an entertaining and enjoyable romantic comedy movie that provides you a few good laughs. And I dream that viewers will be able to take away these underlying values from the film and start to change for the better. Remember that it all starts in the heart.
[SPOILER ALERT!]
The story started off with an entertaining and cheeky monologue that took place in the head of our zombie, R (played by Nicholas Hoult). He explained the problems he suffered as a zombie which includes the inability to express their feelings and with no memories of his previous life. R also felt that something was missing in his life. Fortunately for R, he had a close friend in the form of another zombie, M (played by funny man, Rob Corddry).
So one day, R and M went out looking for food aka human flesh, in a pack of zombies. One the same day, a small convoy of human survivors were despatched out of the safe-zone to gather supplies from nearby buildings, including Julie (played by Teresa Palmer), Nora (Analeigh Tipton - Yes, she's the girl from Cycle 11 of America's Next Top Model) and Julie's boyfriend Perry (played by Dave Franco - James Franco's brother). Fate had brought these two groups together and everyone in the convoy was killed except for Julie and Nora.
During the attack, R killed Perry and gained his memories by devouring his brains. R had also fallen in love with Julie the first time he set his sights on her. R then rescued Julie from being served as food to the other zombies by covering her with blood and led her back to his safe zone at the airport. Initially terrified, Julie had slowly opened up to R and started to trust him. Their relationship had also unintentionally awoken buried feelings and memories within R and the other zombies - they were slowly turning back to life. However, the bonies (skeletal zombies that have lost all trace of humanities and will eat anything with a heartbeat) discovered the effect that R and Julie had on the other zombies and attacked them.
R and Julie fled from the airport and headed back to the human survivor stronghold. The bonies followed them and was about to threaten the livelihood of the remaining human survivors when they were confronted by M and his zombie friends. During the battle, the survivors had learnt to trust and accept the zombies as they knew it was possible for the zombies to come back to life.
[SPOILER ENDS!]
Throughout the entire story, there were countless of zombie-related jokes and light-hearted moments between the fear of being eaten by zombies. I admit I was half-expecting R to get frustrated along the way and just turn around to bite Julie. The lack of emotions and the precognitive impressions that we have towards zombies would also cause you to wonder if the other zombies will just lose it and started killing the humans. The story mashed fear with comedy very well that it will keep you at the edge of your seat for most parts of the movies.
Then of course, there is the question of the make up and costumes. Although it may not make sense that most of the zombies' clothes are in relatively good condition and appeared less gross compared to other zombie movies, I guess it made the zombies easier to be accepted romantically (At least they do not sparkle, just saying).
Now, Warm Bodies may appear to be another simple film playing around with the Romantic Comedy genre by making a lover out of zombies, I can't help but to think that there's more that meets the eyes. Looking back at the story, R was frustrated for not being able to express himself, to say the things that he wanted to say, or to dream. Once, he even wanted to give up in his struggle to change his way of life and blamed his stupidity for fighting against the norms. In many ways, most of us in the society are zombies in our daily lives. We are so caught up the expectations of others that we live our lives like how everyone else are telling us to, instead of how we really want. We have been told countless of times to be realistic, fell down in life, gotten hurt, disappointed and embarrassed that we are even afraid to dream. In a way, we are just as trapped as the zombies, and are forced to accept the norms of the society that we live in.
On the other hand, the human survivors portrayed a different aspect of our society. They rejected the zombies in the beginning and dismissed them as mindless creatures with only one purpose, which is to feed. They have failed to take the time to understand and stereotyped these creatures until the very end. We shouldn't judge and reject someone so quickly based on some preconceived ideologies. And we have to believe that everyone is able to change for the better, just like the zombies in the movie.
In the world today, there are still prejudices towards minorities all around the globe. Ethnicity, religion, homosexuality, social ranks, occupations - these are but a few of many discriminations people face everyday. How long will we continue to reject others just because they are different from us? One could only hope that one day the human society will be able to emulate the survivors in the film, and pull down the walls that separated themselves and the zombies. And to all you "zombies" out there, it is never too late and it is your privilege as a human to dream.
All in all, Warm Bodies is more than just an entertaining and enjoyable romantic comedy movie that provides you a few good laughs. And I dream that viewers will be able to take away these underlying values from the film and start to change for the better. Remember that it all starts in the heart.
KayElleGuy's rating: +-+1.png)
(8.0 / 10.0)
(8.0 / 10.0)
List of cast members:
- Nicholas Hoult as R
- Teresa Palmer as Julie
- Analeigh Tipton as Nora
- Rob Corddry as M
- Dave Franco as Perry
- John Malkovich as Grigio
- Cory Hardrict as Kevin
- Daniel Rindress-Kay as Soldier #1
- Vincent Leclerc as Perry's Dad
- Clifford LeDuc-Vaillancourt as Boy at Airport
- Billie Calmeau as Girl at Airport
- Chris Cavener as Soldier #2
- Adam Driscoll as Young Man at ATM
- Jonathan Dubsky as Berge
- Alec Bourgeois as 11-year-old Perry and cast
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