IMDb plot summary: After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
Directed by Jonathan Levine. Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton and Rob Corddry.
(Spoilers ahead, because the ending of this movie was ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS.)
Sigh.
This has the potential to be SO GOOD. The first ten minutes were SO GOOD. Creative, funny, self-aware... looked like we were heading in an awesome direction.
And then began the spiral into stupid.
It started with zombies who had barely been able to manage the word "Hungry" at the beginning of the movie suddenly speaking in sentences. Caveman-esque sentences, sure, but sentences. For no reason. And then groups of zombies that believed in love. For no reason. And then dead hearts that started beating. FOR NO REASON. And then all the zombies are talking in full sentences and have memories. FOR NO REASON.
Oh, and the secret ingredient to their cure? Apparently it was... being accepted and appreciated by humans. Which is horrifically stupid on its own, but even more so because IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE IN THE PLOT. Nobody was accepted and loved at the beginning. They all just started being cured magically. No acceptable explanations. Nothing that makes sense. It's one of the most frustrating uses of the "Love cures everything!" trope in recent years.
Even that could be accepted if the movie had kept its snarky tone from the first half, but instead the narrator goes almost entirely silent and the movie plays it completely straight. It could have been *hilarious* if the movie parodied the ridiculousness of the trope. But, nope. It was like the first half was written by a smart, snarky adult and the second half was written by a 13-year-old girl who read too much Twilight.
The first 40 minutes of this movie were easily like 4 stars for me, but it went so far downhill so fast that it gets ONE STAR for being the MOST disappointing movie I have seen in a while. grumblegrumblegrumble
Flickchart: #1726 out of 1936, below Meet Me In St. Louis and above Jules et Jim.
5 comments:
Oh man! I'm bummed you hated this one so much. I really enjoyed it, it was kind of stupid how they all started to be human again, but I guess I just appreciate it for being different than other zombie flicks.
*I'm* bummed I hated it so much too! Haha... I LOVED the first half and I felt like they could have done so much with it and then the plot just fell apart. :-/ I really really wanted to love this one.
Yeah, I'm with Brittany. I was pretty upset by the "love is the cure" theme, but the rest of it was definitely entertaining enough for me to watch again. I'd like to read the book because there are often things explained in print that movies fail to communicate. I also wonder if knowing the book makes the movie even more enjoyable.
Also, that last comment was Sarah. Why do they ask me to sign in with an account if they're not going to publish my name? Geesh.
I want to read the book too. If nothing else, the book would keep the voice of the narrator all the way through. That made a HUGE difference for me. Once the snarky voiceover was gone, I had to take the rest of it seriously. And I just couldn't do it. It turned into an entirely different movie.
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