Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - movie review

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

Plot: Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies.
Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston
Director: Burr Steers
Rating: 15
Runtime: 1hr 47 mins
Release Date: Thursday 11th February 2016

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, that really is the title. The concept of amalgamating a classic novel with a zombie apocalypse could be considered a form of brilliance. Just the idea alone of rich upperclassmen battling the undead with their swords drawn sounds immediately enthralling. This had the potential to be a fun and enjoyable movie, maybe even at the very most, a guilty pleasure. Alas, this was not meant to be. The result was more Pride and Prejudice and much less zombies and any form of excitement.


There were really only two performances that I connected with. The first was Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet. Following on from her success as the Disney princess Cinderella come to life, James manages to impress and relish in this ridiculousness. She also accomplishes the action sequences to full effect holding her own against some of the more experienced actors featured who have undergone complex fight scenes before. This inclusion of a strong female protagonist continues with a constant theme from Hollywood of demonstrating powerful female characters and James follows in the recent footsteps left by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, I doubt that in a few years, James' portrayal of Bennett will be all that recognisable, but for now, I can't complain. The other performance that caught me off guard in a positive way, would be from Doctor Who himself, Matt Smith. His goofball portrayal of Parson Collins made for an entertaining watch. He was by no means the most likeable of characters, but whenever he was onscreen, his bubbly nature and simpleton behaviour alleviated the dull and boring story. The rest of the performances did not do much else for me. Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy felt almost as zombified as the actual zombies. His performance contrasted to previous depictions of Mr. Darcy. Instead of being the charming gentleman that women swooned over, Riley mumbled and muttered his way through the filmmaking Darcy almost feel socially inept in some points. Yes, he may have been very convincing at holding his own during the action segments but because they were too far and few between, I never really cared for him anymore. Lena Headey and Charles Dance also feature and whilst their performances are fine yet nothing to boast about, the writing of those characters didn't allow for any detailed or emotional expansion. These are two world class actors and to me, it felt as if they were incredibly underutilized.

Rarely does a classical story like this written by the incomparable Jane Austen, get given an apocalyptic makeover. This is something that the director (Steers) attempts, yet to no success. Instead, I felt confused as to what this movie was trying to be. Was it attempting to be a serious action drama? Or was it attempting to be parody of some sorts allowing for a more comedic approach to be taken. Unfortunately, P&P&Z falls somewhere into the middle resulting in an overall lack of identity. As an audience member, I felt confused as to how I should approach this movie. If I was judging it as an action comedy, I would complain about the lack of jokes, but if it were more drama focused, I would have to comment about its lack of seriousness. The pacing was a slight issue as well. Of course, there always has to be a point in any film to where the action slows and we can be more invested in the characters. The problem here was the it slowed too often and when it slowed, it basically stopped. I didn't really care that much about the romance so whenever that was present, my interest dropped significantly.

What infuriated me the most with this film was the lack of zombie action. When a film contains the word 'Zombies', you would expect the zombies to be heavily prominent. But here, they felt more like an afterthought until the last twenty minutes where I presume the director and writers suddenly realised what film they were supposed to be making and reluctantly included them in the final act. Because of the lacklustre treatment of the zombies, the film resulted in being another adaptation of Pride and Prejudice just with the occasional interaction with the undead. The zombies themselves were something I was extremely unsure about. The makeup seemed decent and created a horrifying effect in some circumstances but for a film of this budget, I can easily say that The Walking Dead trumps it tremendously. What baffles me the most was the rating of this film. In the UK, it was awarded a 15 yet, in my opinion, contains no real moments of bloody or gory violence and little else for it to be given this age certificate. Maybe it was the intention for director Steers, to make it hardcore and violent but it never fulfilled that, and now, because of the limited age rating, he could be losing money for this mistake.

P&P&Z is by no means a car crash of a film. There are some solid performances and effectively choreographed action scenes. However, the lack of zombies and then an uninteresting plot, results in a dull watch and perhaps Jane Austen will be turning in her grave. And then subsequently rising from it.

My Verdict: 4/10

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