All new couples have challenges. Problems rise naturally out of the different histories, likes and dislikes, and ways of looking at the world two people have. But if they can overcome those boundaries and turn their initial spark of attraction into a joining of their hearts and minds, then love can happen, and two lives can become one.
R and Julie certainly have their differences. They meet at a pharmacy, her browsing for medicine, him looking to grab a snack, and when he sees her, there’s a spark. She touches something inside of him he thought long dead. His heart even jumps. For her, not so much. Maybe that’s because her boyfriend’s freshly eaten brains are dribbling off R’s chin.
“Warm Bodies” offers – and I write this unapologetically - one of the sweetest romances I have seen on the big screen. That it achieves this within all of the trappings of a zombie movie is no small accomplishment.
The setup: Something – whether a virus or chemical weapons – triggered an outbreak that turned nearly everyone around the world into shambling undead. Devoid of a heartbeat and motivated only by a hunger for live flesh, they wander the streets, seeking the scent of blood and moving dead-eyed through the rote vestiges of their former lives, whether they were a janitor, a security guard, or a waitress. Reduced to a metaphor, there’s nothing for a zombie to do but go about their routine until it’s time to feed.
This describes R to a “T.” Unable to remember his full first name, he spends his days strolling through an airport with hundreds like him and his nights shacked up in a passenger jet, where he plays his favorite songs on a record player. This shows R isn’t like the zombies in a George Romero movie or “The Walking Dead,” but is a kinder, gentler member of the undead. Like us.
R isn’t a bony, either, a poorly animated zombie that’s eaten its own skin and combs the city for anything with a heartbeat. Those guys are serious trouble. He just has occasional cravings.
When Julie’s militaristic father sends her and a group of other teens out of their compound in the center of a large city to search for supplies, R catches a whiff of Julie’s blood and follows her. An attack ensues, and he ends up biting into her boyfriend’s arm. “I like flesh, but at least I’m convicted about it,” he narrates.
When R swallows a mouthful of the young man’s brains, he sees his memories and absorbs his feelings, including falling in love with Julie. How R gets her out of the pharmacy alive and to his airplane, I’ll leave to you to discover. Just know it’s clever and funny, as is the way they slowly form a relationship, and then ignite something that changes the world.
I’ll also leave you to discover the ending, even though I’m tempted to give it away. Maybe you think you know what happens. Suffice to say “Warm Bodies” wraps up nicely, and will leave you with the warm glow you feel when you watch a really good romance.
None of that surprised me. What did surprise me is how fresh and revealing “Warm Bodies” feels. I thought filmmakers had long ago scraped every last bit of flesh – of meaning – from the zombie genre and tossed aside the empty skull. But writer and director Jonathan Levine, working from a novel by Isaac Marion, finds something new. He finds a heartbeat. He finds something… relevant to say using those lifeless meat sacks.
I believe it’s this: Hate might have infected our world like a virus, but love is an even more powerful contaminate, and it can cure what ails us. Yes, that’s as schmaltzy as movie themes go, but when a statement like that is wrapped up in humor, wit, sincerity, warmth, and freshly eaten brains, you have to smile. Just make sure to wipe your chin.
Rated PG-13 for zombie violence and language. Three-and-a-half stars out of four.