Warm Bodies

 

**

So it’s a zombie apocalypse and John Malkovich is leading the fight. He governs an army that seems to be mostly made up of adolescents with a lot of angst and very pronounced cheekbones. He sends a group of these adolescents brandishing shotguns out into a zombie-infested area, and that’s when one of the group (who happens to be John Malkovich’s daughter) meets 'R' a zombie who, thanks to the power of love is beginning to become un-undead. And so the adventure begins…

The film is shot with dark and moody lighting, which makes for a vivid apocalyptic world but doesn’t promote laughter. This is a recurring problem: when a joke is made you’re hesitant to laugh because you’re not sure if you’re meant to. If it’s a “zom-rom-com” it’s lacking in wit and fun, if it’s a sort of drama its premise is too silly to muster emotion in its audience.

And as its incoherent story took various clumsy twists and turns and attempted a number of sugary romantic scenes I began to ask the question, am I the film’s target audience? No is the answer: the film contains that youthful spirit and safely grim violence that I recognised from such films as “The Hunger Games” or “Twilight” and suddenly it hit me! Warm Bodies is a bit of a chick flick and that’s that.

Still, I can’t blame this movie for having a go and when you compare it to a film like “Shaun Of The Dead” it might not be better, but Warm Bodies is different and for that it is commendable.