Warm Bodies: The Movie

So after yet another break away from the blogging world I am back. I was recently away in Scotland visiting family for my Mum's 50th Birthday, while I was away some pretty exciting life decisions were made which I will write about in a personal post soon. So keep tuned in if you are interested!

So Warm Bodies the film! This was another film I went to see as a Birthday Celebration in Leicester Square and I saw in the Empire Cinema which is a lovely little cinema and I my absolute favourite cinema which shows current releases. It reminds me a lot of the cinema I grew up with which was a wonderful independent Cinema in Surrey, and it both cinemas carry the vibe that going to the cinema is a real event, a big day out. It has beautiful red velvet seats which are really comfortable, and the Cinema I feel is reasonable priced for a London cinema. 

So this film is a really fun film. It is pretty funny from the get go, bumbling zombies trying to carry out the pre zombie lives makes for amusing views, it is sort of like if toddlers were given adult bodies. We are introduced to R, the protagonist setting the scene which is pretty similar to the book. Few years past an out break happened turning people into Zombies, the humans have made a safe area and send out scouts to collect supplies from the surrounding city, where they can be attack by Zombies who hunt in feeding packs. Though they spend most of their time in the Airport. 

Nicholas Holt plays R, and I think he is a great actor who always nails the roles he is given, and I am surprised we don't see him more often. A lot of the film is narrated by R, and his internal monologue since he has trouble making is Zombie body say what he wants. Holt facial expressions and movements really help to bring humour to these moments and make R such a loveable lead that you really end up routing for. 

One of the main difference between Book R and Movie R is this sense of humour, there definitely are funny moments in the book, but I wouldn't call it a comedy book, R is very deep and conflicted about his situation, he doesn't feel like he can accept his fate, he is trapped and he can't express himself. Movie R is far more comical, and also a lot younger, in the book he is described as wearing a smart shirt as if he was going to work when he became a Zombie, while in the Movie he is more of a teenage/ young adult age wearing a hoodie which is how R's best friend M (Rod Corrdry) is described in the book, it is as if M and R have switched bodies for the Movie. 

Also not surprisingly the story is sped up quite a bit for the film. R has fairly good verbal skills when he first meets Julie (Teresa Palmer), and also Julie is far more comfortable around R then she is in the book, she is intrigued by him, but she is still scared and wants to escape him, until she can start to see the change in him. Also Julie is upset with R in the book about him killing and eating her boyfriend, which you know is perfectly understandable,  where as in the film she seems to get over that fairly quickly. 

The main difference for me though is the book is far more intense. Both Julie when she is in the airport with R and when R sneaks into the compound to find Julie they are in real danger. Also the ending is far more tense in the book, with Julies father Grigio ( John Malkovich), meeting a fairly grisly end, after exposing himself to be a very unkind and unjust leader.

For me this is not a true adaptation of the boo, but it certainly is a fun one. Would I wanted to have seen a deep soul searching Zombie film in the a climactic ending ? Probably not, it would have made for an odd viewing, but it works really well as a book, where you can seem attitudes and character slowly change and evolve with each chapter, and I don't think that sort of character development always translate to the screen very well. 

And I feel the comedy route for this film was far better fitting, and made for great viewing. My main criticism for the film would be how the role of Nora was down played in the film, she really helped Julie and R in the book, but in the film she became a quirky best friend, though she was played brilliantly by Analiegh Tipton, I also really liked how in the book R was always very unhappy with his Zombie life while M was far more content with what his life, and this conflict of interests in the film.

I would recommend this film, it is very unique and very funny, but it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head in terms of an adaptation but I do like what they have done with it none the less.

Rella Xx

The Book: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, I didn't know this book existed until after the film came out in 2012. Which I went to see for my birthday. So as a result I was always thinking back to the film while reading it. The film

 ( which I will write about in a few days) was a comic zombie romance film. This book takes a different approach. 

Now this is a book I never would have picked up with out the film being made, for one simple reason...It's about Zombies. Zombies are one thing I find truly terrifying, I have only ever read one other book about Zombies, World War Z, and I found that difficult to get through as it freaked me out a bit. Even comedies about them such as Shaun Of The Dead are fairly frightening for me. But I liked how the film told this story and I felt I needed to make myself read it. 

So the book is set in America after an outbreak of a virus that has turned a large amount of the population into these Zombie like infected people who fed on the living to stop their bodies breaking down and decomposing. 

There are two main differences between a regular Zombie story and this, 

One: It is set in a world where it has been a few years since this Zombie break out and the humans and Zombies have established lives, so there is no waking up and realising half the world is dead, and trying to get to safety which is a story we have all read before. 

Two: This book is written from the Zombies point of view. 

Our protagonist R is a young man with thoughts feelings and dreams the only problem is that he's a zombie. He can't remember his old life before he became infected. He doesn't know how old he is or what he use to do he can only guess on his past based on this shirt a tie but he has no hard facts, all he know is his name began with R. He lives in an airport where many zombies have gathered and he follows a mundane life. He gets a zombie wife and some children, which are just children who are also infected and wander about the airport, and he hangs out with his best friend, who can often be found in the toilets attempting to have sex with other zombies. 

The infected remember aspect of life before such as marriage and sex and they try to mimic this, and R collects relic of life before small trinkets of everyday life, but he just can't accept that this is  it, that he will be cold dead and hunting the living. Then one day he meets Julie, who for reason unknown to him he saves her. After eating her boyfriends brain and he catches glimpses of his life with Julie he realises that that is what he wants. Warmth and kindness and love and life. 

Julie although scared for her life realises that this is something more to R then meets the eye, she can see there is something that sets him apart from the others. The more time they spend together the more R begins to change, his speech improves, his desire to hunt humans fades and life begins to return to him. Between them they may have found the cure to end the era of the zombies.

This is a great book with a balance of comedy romance and insight to life. I found it to be a really fun and interesting read, and even with my fear of Zombies I was able to read this one with out too much issue. these is a very clear Romeo and Juliet theme running through out the book, two lover that can't be together, the threat of death and even their names R and Julie echo that of the tragic Marion even managed to sneak in a balcony scene. 

I really enjoyed this book, it was an interesting read, and is has a good few twist and turns to keep the story from going stagnate. It's got a bit of everything romance zombies fear and hope it is a very unique story and I am surprised I hadn't heard about it before, if you haven't read this book I would definitely say to add it to your list of must reads. 

Rella Xx