Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer | Directed by Jonathan Levine
Serving as a counterpoint to Joy Divisions famous assertion that love will tear us apart, Jonathan Levines new zombie romance suggests that warm fuzzies are capable of reanimating even the most moribund of souls.
Adapted from Isaac Marions young-adult novel, Warm Bodies unfolds in a bland post-apocalyptic world and revolves around R (Nicholas Hoult), an introspective zombie prone to delivering mopey voiceovers that incessantly hammer home the films central conceit that zombification is basically an extreme case of introversion. When R lays eyes on Julie (Teresa Palmer), its star-crossed infatuation at first sight. Soon enough, theres a spring in his step and even the occasional thud in his chest cavity.
Having previously directed the cancer comedy 50/50, Levine obviously welcomes the chance to toy with genre conventions. The problem is, he still hasnt mastered some filmmaking fundamentals. First and foremost, Levine constantly asks his cloying soundtrack to accomplish the emotional heavy lifting for him as hes unwilling to allow his cast to carry a scene on their own. Furthermore, he fails to recognize that a movie teeming with zombies is obligated to deliver at least a couple of token scares, if only to assure viewers that there are some legitimate stakes here.
Alas, the only shocks come courtesy of the lack of quality control. Whether its the astonishingly shoddy CGI used to create the more skeletal undead or lame additions to zombie lore that crumble under the slightest scrutiny, theres nothing but half-measures to be found here. Unfortunately, a movie about meaningful connections is undone by the unwillingness of anyone involved to commit themselves to the material.
