Why So Blu?

Warm Bodies (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

I remember back in 2013 wanting nothing to do with this movie and shamefully saying how awful it looked.  However, I also remember flying home on a work trip and being bored out of my mind knowing that I had a long flight ahead of me. The conundrum was that I had nothing to watch on the plane.  Eureka!  I came up with the idea that I should download Warm Bodies on my iPad to keep me company for the next three hours.  After all our own Aaron Neuwirth had originally given this one some nice nods in his movie review originally published here.  I’m glad I did because not only did Nicholas Hoult go on to become one of my most favorite War Boys, but I actually had a rather splendid experience watching Warm Bodies for the first time.  All my apprehension was for absolutely nothing.  So with that being said I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to revisiting this Lionsgate catalog title again on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.  That ladies and gentlemen is my segue to why we’re all here.

Film 

Warm Bodies originally came out back in 2013 and is billed as a romantic zombie comedy.  However, to me it’s more than that because there’s actually some action sequences in it too reminiscent of something akin to I Am Legend.  But I digress because it’s so much better.  LOL.  It’s based on Isaac Marion’s best selling novel of the same name.  Jonathan Levine directs this “warm” tale, which stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton and John Malkovich.  I guess you can say what’s unique about this film other than it’s love aspect is that it’s told completely from a zombie’s perspective (narration and all), “R” to be precise.  Yep that’s right.  The zombie character Hoult portrays is named R and we’re focused here on the blossoming relationship between him and normal human girl named Julie (Palmer).

The film is set about eight years after a zombie apocalypse and that’s where we meet our main zombie character, R, and his best friend Marcus (Cordddry), who is also a zombie.  They have been killing their days wandering aimlessly around an airport.  Their communication is basically limited to groans, grunts and moans, but also a few select words too.  R seems to have a fetish for eating brains.  Don’t all zombies?   However, the unique spin on things here is when he munches on brains he is able to connect with his victim’s memories.  Makes sense, huh?  Everything changes one day when R discovers Julie.  She was just recovering supplies for her military leader father, but when R sees Julie for the first time it is literally love at first sight.  It is also so intense that R’s heart beats for the very first time.  

Now here’s where things take a dark spin.  R kills Julie’s boyfriend, Perry (Franco).  It gets worse.  R gets to have his favorite meal…brains.  This time however it’s not just anybody’s brain, but that of Perry’s.  His memories end up increasing R’s “undying” attraction to Julie.  He takes it upon himself to save Julie from the rest of his zombie peers and takes her back to the airplane he hangs out in and this is where they um bond with each other I guess you could say.  It is here that Julie sees that R is different from the other zombies, and the two grow closer in their struggle for survival.  During all this we find R becoming more human while his and her romance ignites a phenomenon that seemingly may have the power to transform the other zombies and that’s all I’ll say.  If you haven’t seen Warm Bodies, then I don’t want to spoil any of the dark comedy, romantic or even tension filled moments as Julie and R form a special relationship in their struggles to not only survive a zombie epidemic, but also from the violent humans and Bonies (think ruthless zombies like in I Am Legend).

The thing I love most about Warm Bodies and I mean it with no sarcasm whatsoever is how much heart this movie truly has.  It nearly had me in tears at the end because of how much emotion I felt for these two leading characters not to mention how much undeniable charm this flick has.  Sad thing is I knew how it ended and I still was moved to tears.  Well maybe that’s not sad, but just a valid reason as to what an exceptional tale this is.  Yes it follows familiar zombie rules, but it also turns them on their head too all while keeping its charm, humor and even action perfectly balanced throughout.  Warm Bodies will make you laugh, cry and even jump at times.  If that’s not perfection in a post apocalyptic zombie comedy romance, then I don’t know what is.  However, I do know this.  It looked and sounded great on 4K ultra HD Blu-ray.

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Lionsgate’s  Warm Bodies.  I have to say that out of all the Lionsgate catalog titles I have reviewed on the 4K ultra HD Blu-ray thus far this is my favorite looking one.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Dolby Vision: Yes
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: This isn’t your sharpest looking 4K Blu-ray presentation, but it looks pretty damn good I must say.  Closeups reveal the utmost in detail, but whether we’re talking humans or corpses you can see all veins, scars, pores, stumble and any other imperfection in the skin.  Textures are prominent too in items such as clothes, sets and other onscreen environments the characters interact with like the leather grain in the airplane seats.  Last but not least, the Bonies looked very much CG, but also very detailed, chiseled and most importantly very believable too.
• Depth: Equally impressive is the depth of field as it’s everywhere to be found here from the zombies meandering around the depths of the airport to the many different city streets.  What I loved the most was seeing how the zombies wandering the streets blended seamlessly with both the depth and the many on set environments such as trees, cars and whatnot.
• Black Levels: The black levels are all deep and natural throughout with the HDR in tow making sure nothing unintentionally doesn’t get lost in the shadows here.
• Color Reproduction: The colors in this one are something to pay close attention to, but of course you can automatically assume a very muted color palette because of the post apocalyptic nature of it all.  However, things look like a million bucks outside in the sunshine moments and also as we go along here.  Let’s just say hearts start beating more.
• Flesh Tones: Skin tones are obviously white and pasty throughout, but in all seriousness very natural looking too.
• Noise/Artifacts: Other than a thin veneer, gorgeous looking layer of grain throughout I didn’t notice anything bad looking in this 4K Blu-ray presentation.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of Lionsgate’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Warm Bodies.  Just an FYI the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc has a phenomenal Atmosphere track while the 1080p Blu-ray has a English 7.1 DTS HD-MA one.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Optimized for Late-Night Listening, English Descriptive Audio
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, English SDH
• Dynamics: Even though this one is billed as a romantic comedy don’t let that fool you as there are plenty of highs and moments of fidelity to be found here in this Atmos track such as the phenomenal soundtrack cuts and action/peril sequences to the brilliant ways in which the height channels are utilized.  Dialogue is credible, but you have to understand a lot of it is mumbles and groans as R and the other zombies are just learning to talk.  There’s a lot sense of directionality throughout here and it’s all mixed splendidly well with all onscreen events authentically rendered.  This one is a dynamically wide one.  I never saw it coming either as I originally watched this one on an iPad if you remember me telling you that up above.
• Height: Here’s where I am so impressed with this surround track.  Most of the time when R is narrating his voice is coming through the Atmos height channels projecting a sense of him talking from above you.  It’s quite rad!  There are also examples found throughout such as fireworks popping in the sky above you, rain falling, Bonies pounding on glass from above and it falling down and more.
• Low Frequency Extension: This isn’t going to knock any pictures off the walls here, but the LFE channel is there when called upon in moments such as score, soundtrack cuts, pounding on glass, shotgun slides and blasts, gunfire, heartbeats, a weed wacker and more.
• Surround Sound Presentation: I love the immersion this track dynamically provides as it effectively uses the full sound space filling the rears with score, soundtrack, transitions and effects, gunfire, birds chirping, glass shattering and miscellaneous interactions with the onscreen environments and sets.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialog is clean and intelligible.  It’s not overly loud, but you shouldn’t really miss much.

Extras 

The Warm Bodies 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set comes loaded with all the special features from the original Blu-ray release back in 2013.  Instead of being an old school Digital Copy this release gets a makeover with a redeemable Digital HD file good in either iTunes or your favorite UltraViolet retailer.  So without further ado let’s take a look at all the extras housed on both the 1080p Blu-ray disc (including the theatrical film in HD) and also in SDR on the 4K UHD disc.

• Boy Meets, Er, Doesn’t Eat Girl (HD, 9:49) – This one is all about the origin of the film and how it came to be made.
• R&J (HD, 16:21) –  This extra goes deeper into exploration of the relationship between R and Julie.
• A Little Less Dead (HD, 16:41) – This one is all about the film’s casting.
• Extreme Zombie Makeover! (HD, 10:11) – This featurette explore the wonderful job done here by make-up artist Adrien Morot.
• A Wreck in Progress (HD, 14:59) – This one is all about the selections of the locations for filming.
• Bustin’ Caps (HD, 10:09) – This one dives deeper into the action sequences with the movie.
• Beware the Boneys (HD, 7:04) – Here we take a closer look at all the scary zombies.
• Whimsical Sweetness: Teresa Palmer’s Warm Bodies Home Movies  (HD, 12:38) – This extra contains a bunch of behind the scenes footage captured by Palmer.
• Zombie Acting Tips with Rob Corddry  (HD, 4;43) – The title says it all here.
• Audio Commentary – Here we have a feature length audio commentary with Screenwriter/Director Jonathan Levine and Actors Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer.  They discuss behind the scenes of the shoot, effects and much more.  It’s a rather engaging chat to be had.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 11:11) – These deleted scenes can be played with optional audio commentary by Director Jonathan Levine.
• “Shrug & Groan” Gag Reel (HD, 5:07)
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:32)

Summary 

So there you have it folks!  I was pleasantly surprised by Warm Bodies on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.  And to think I initially did not want to tackle this one, but I was so glad I did.  From a fantastic use of the height channels on the Dolby Atmos surround track and a great looking cinematic presentation to a charming, heart-warming story I really can’t recommend this one enough via it’s $16 price tag (at the time of this writing).  I am ecstatic to add this to my home media library.  Thank you Lionsgate!  This is your finest 4K catalog release to date in my opinion.  The pre-order link is down below.  You all know what to do!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Warm Bodies

Walk Amongst Us In

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

October 3rd

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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