Warm Bodies: Even Zombies can Love These Days

In a time when vampires and werewolves have turned into romantic icons it should come as no surprise that zombies can...feel love and also be loved back. 
At least that is the premise of Warm Bodies, a 2013 film based on the novel by Isaac Marion. Apparently, the zombie state caused by the virus  is basically a new stage in life one that can allow human beings to endure beyond the traumatic event we call Death, but because it is a relatively new condition little is known about what to do to those who are infected with the virus and the only way to deal with a zombie is then to put a bullet in his or her head. The very few living humans have built a fortress and live in a city inside. They are heavily armed and always on the look to eliminate all zombies.
One day, a girl called Julie (Teresa Palmer) accidentally meets and befriends a young zombie who calls himself R (Nicholas Hoult). This relationship triggers in R the transformation back to being human, a process that promptly begins in all the other zombies with the exception of the "Bonies" or "Skeletons", zombies that have been more deeply affected and cannot become human again. The Skeletons are essentially evil and for some reason , faster, stronger and even better organized than the "average" zombies. when they discover what is happening between R and Julie they decide to go after them.
R and Julie have decided to let the other living humansknow  that is it possible for a zombie to live again, but of course that will be only possible if the living want to listen, though it helps Julie's father is the living humans' maximum leader which also comes in handy since a final confrontation between the skeletons , the zombies and the humans looms in the horizon.    
Though it is predictable you just have to like this movie. Hoult's performance is quite physical since he is a zombie for most of the movie                                                                        , but one that is slowly becoming human again and he has to stick to that situation. Teresa Palmer is perfect for the role of Julie for Julie becomes a beacon of light in R's gloomy existence and that is precisely what she does. The photography is at times dark to reflect R's world but then it is light and yet there is some dark in that light as well. I just don´t know how they do it but I think the result is surreal and terrific at the same time.
It is a good thing they decided not to leave loose ends in the plot for a possible sequel but the audiences have welcomed this story openly and thus the writer is currently preparing the second installment.
Four stars out of five for this one.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more