Thus far, all the zombies in movies are portrayed as the undead, living dead or simply dead people with no hope of ever recovering from the condition. On the other hand, this movie showed Nicholas as the zombie "R" who still retained some human consciousness but "lived" or wandered through the airport with nary a collection of his actual name or past.
His existence was as aimless and meaningless as any dead people. That was, until he met a living female in the form of Teresa as Julie, who remotely reminded me of Kristen Stewart. A group of youngsters, which included Julie, from an isolated group of remaining survivors hiding within the confines of a walled area in the city was out salvaging medical supplies and encountered the pack of zombies who attacked them. R killed Julie's boyfriend Perry, ate his brain and absorbed some of his thoughts and memories, further strengthening his attraction towards Julie. Perry was played by Dave Franco, who is James Franco's younger brother, and who reminded me of the Taiwanese eurasian actor Rhydian Vaughan.
Therein begins the most unusual relationship between a living person and an undead, where R went all out to protect Julie from being harmed by other zombies and his strong attraction towards her brought on a reversion of his condition. His heart gradually started to beat, pumping blood that coursed through his body as he slowly reverted to being a living person once again as he escorted her back to her father who is the leader of the survivors. The attraction was contagious or infectious, and his zombie friend "M" too was converted together with many other zombies who witnessed R and Julie holding hands.
As with all movies, there are always the good and bad characters. In this light-hearted movie, the bad characters were in the form of skeletal zombies, who were at a more advanced stage of zombie infection and were really beyond reversion since they already peeled off their human skin. These zombies were more aggressive and actively attacked and ate the living with a vengeance. They detected the changes in the human zombies and actively pursued the pair of lovers in an attempt to prevent the infectious reversion of the human zombies back to the living. The outcome of the battle between the groups was rather predictable as good triumphed over evil.
Nicholas as the affable and charmingly likable zombie R played the character with much aplomb and such ease. The chemistry between R and Julie was also convincingly believable and the pair was quite a couple. If anyone wants a different ending to a zombie movie, this is definitely the movie not to be missed.
