Director: Burr Steers
Writers: Burr Steers (screenplay), Jane Austen (Quirk Books novel) | 1 more credit »
Stars: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston | See full cast & crew »
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016 Movie Reviews
Pride + Prejudice + Zombies = a great time at the movies
8 February 2016 | by Dave McClain (dave-mcclain@hotmail.com) (United States) – See all my reviews
Pride and Prejudice… AND ZOMBIES?? It sounds strange. It is. It sounds like a bad B-movie, but is it? "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" (PG-13, 1:48) has a very unusual premise… but not a unique one. If you're tempted to dismiss this movie as disrespectful to classic literature, or history (or zombies), I'd encourage you to consider the following two movies: In 2005, Indian and British filmmakers got together to produce a Bollywood-style film called "Bride & Prejudice". It was loosely based on "Pride and Prejudice", Jane Austen's classic 1813 novel about conflicts and misunderstandings among young men and women of different social standing. In 2012, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" created an alternate history by merging the personal background of the man who would become the 16th President of the United States with legends and fictional characteristics of the so-called "children of the night".
Worldwide, "Vampire Hunter" earned double what it had cost to produce. Box office receipts for "Bride & Prejudice" tripled that movie's budget. And then there are other alternate versions of history, such as 2009's "Inglourious Basterds", which doubled the money spent on its production, and fictionalized versions of history like 2003's "The Last Samurai" whose worldwide take was three times its budget.
What's more, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" was co-written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the book on which that movie is based – and had previously written the 2009 mash-up novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", the book on which the 2016 movie is based. So, if movies like this aren't unheard-of, and they make money, the most important question that remains is whether "Pride + Prejudice + Zombies" (as it's also written) is in the same class as the other films mentioned above.
Much like the characters in Jane Austen's original work, in this film, there's a wealthy Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) whose pride is misinterpreted as arrogance by Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James), an independent young woman who tends to let first impressions and unproven stories prejudice her attitudes towards others. Darcy and Elizabeth clash at first, but eventually feel drawn to each other. UN-like Jane Austen's story, this is all happening as Darcy and Elizabeth are trying to fend off the zombie apocalypse.
In this film's version of history, Great Britain has become afflicted with a plague brought to its shores from its overseas empire. London has been walled off by the Grand Barrier and is further protected by the Royal Moat, a giant trench which encircles the city as well as an area of farm land known as the In-Between. Britain's undead roam the countryside in fairly small numbers, but are a persistent concern to the country's landowners… and there's something different about these zombies. They're not as fast as the flesh and brain eaters in "World War Z", but they are more intelligent than those in TV's "The Walking Dead". And there are rumors that the apocalypse described in the Bible's Book of Revelations will be a zombie apocalypse, complete with the biblical Four Horsemen and led by the Anti-Christ.
For the sake of self-preservation, British families who can afford it send their children (male and female alike) to Japan or China in order to receive training in martial arts and various kinds of weaponry. Elizabeth and her four sisters are especially skilled warriors who are encouraged in their training by their father (Charles Dance). On the other hand, their mother (Sally Phillips) is more focused on marrying off all five of them as quickly as possible – so they can be protected and supported. At a nearby ball, an eligible bachelor named Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth) sets his eyes on Elizabeth's older sister, Jane (Bella Heathcote). Soon afterward, Elizabeth is being pursued by the awkward and obnoxious Parson Collins (Matt Smith). She has no interest in the Parson, or in the growing affections of Mr. Darcy, especially after what she hears about him from a British soldier named Wickham (Jack Huston), a man from Darcy's past. The relationships just get more complicated and more challenging as the story progresses. This is, after all, a period romance… and an ongoing struggle to avoid getting eaten by zombies.
"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is tough to describe and do it justice. It's strange, but not too weird. It's a B-movie premise that does not play like a B-movie. Production values are high, the acting is strong and Burr Steers' writing and directing tell a well-constructed stylized story. And the movie smartly avoids extremes. The zombie killings are not overly gory and the romance isn't too sappy. The various elements of Austen's tale and the book's zombie story work together remarkably well – better than most Movie Fans would probably expect. In short, Pride + Prejudice + Zombies = a great time at the movies. "A"
Storyline
Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies.
