FILM: Warm Bodies

It’s the apocalypse and the dead are roaming around thestreets trying to find someone alive to pick their brains on what it means tofeel alive. While that’s happening, the living are trying to either re-kill thedead or find a cure for…being dead – either way, if things don’t end well,someone ends up dead – bullet to the head or guts spread across the road, it’sa no-brainer. Then there are the “Bonies” who seem to take everything seriouslyand fully accept that their living-dead situation is much better than beingrecognisable, so they shed their skin and go on feeding their bare bones. Yetin this world, they all want one thing: connection.

The Story

One of the best amalgamations of comedy, romance and action,there’s enough for everyone to love. It’s scary enough to believe, yet thecomic relief is just so freaking hilarious that you completely forget yourfear. There are moments when you want to say, “awww,” but end up saying,“ewwww,” instead because, well it isa Zombie movie.

I seriously was amazed by how well the literature referencein this film was prolonged before we understood the gist of the storyline theywere going for – I don’t want to spoil it for you guys so I’ll let you figureit out (but it’s one of those, “Oh, I get it!” moments). I also loved themetaphors of “you’re dead in life if you have no connection” and “you’re reallyonly dead without love in your life” – it really makes you think about what wedo live for in life.

I think the story was simple, yet jam-packed with referencesand philosophies that are well embedded in the events of trying to find a curefor being dead.

The Cast

Nicholas Hoult – I’veonly every seen Hoult in X-Men: FirstClass, but I have to say, for a guy who had more lines off-screen than onscreen, he was phenomenal. His deliberately awkward chemistry with Teresa Palmerwas hilarious to watch, yet was the most endearing quality of his character,“R”. I thought Hoult played the role well and delivered a performance that willbe remembered for a long time.

Teresa Palmer – Ihave to say, I’m so glad she’s badass in this movie just like I Am Number Four. I mean badass enoughto be a damsel in distress, but badass to the core to handle a gun andfire-at-will. Palmer delivered a great performance as the daughter trying tofind the father she lost in the war between the living and the dead, and thegirl trying to understand the dead.

Rob Corddry –Comic relief came from Corddry with his fantastic one-liners (between grunts)and zombie movements. I think he was more alive than he was dead from themoment we met him – there was a real element of attachment to his characterthat makes you trust him from the of-set.

Analeigh Tipton –Another brilliant role for Tipton. She was an added source of comic relief likeCorddry, but at the same time, she was able to deliver some heartfelt memoriesin explaining the loss that the world had suffered because of the disease.

Makeup

Ok, you cannot talk about a Zombie movie and not talk aboutmakeup. One word: believable. They were freaky enough to be dead, yet appealingenough to be likeable. Does that make sense? Like they were obviously thewalking dead, but it’s not like ZombieLand where you want to hit the rough and run. It’s more like, you yell, butonly long enough to just get over the initial fear and then you can shoot themor run. Think Goth on a really attractive person – like they somehow can pullthis look off no matter how much mascara or black lipstick they’ve packed on.

Overall

I loved it. I laughed so hard and if there was a point thatwas long enough to be sad, I think I would have cried…well depends really. Butpoint is: IT IS WORTH SEEING. I will warn young kids that there’s a bit of gorein there, so it’s not your typical family movie – it’ll be one for the teensthough. Boys, you’ll love it just as much as the girls – don’t worry, there’smore guns than kissing. Seriously though, go see it.

sL Star Rating 5 Stars

Next on sL: Iron Man 3