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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES
Directed by Burr Steers, with Lily James, Sam Riley, Lena Headey, Douglas Booth and Bella Heathcote.
REVIEW: Keith Uhlich
IT IS a truth universally acknowledged that most people will do anything to make money. And really, who’s to blame the editor at Quirk Books who first suggested to author Seth Grahame-Smith ( Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) that there was great potential in mashing up Jane Austen’s enduringly popular 19th-century novel Pride and Prejudice with the living dead genre? Ladies must live, bottom lines must be met and the trends of the moment must be exploited.
Once the final product released in 2009 and became a runaway best-seller, there seemed little point in letting out a Chris Crocker-esque “Leave Jane Austen alone!” But what will those innumerable readers think of this long-delayed movie adaptation, which has gone through so many iterations that it now resembles something of a reanimated corpse itself? Lumbering, lifeless and — strange thing to say about a cadaver — almost entirely charmless.
Almost entirely, because both Lily James, as headstrong heroine Elizabeth Bennet, and Sam Riley, as her brooding suitor Mr. Darcy, make for a delightful onscreen pair. And whenever they’re able to do Austen's comedy of manners straight (rarely), it’s easy to get involved in the slow-build romance that’s made many a reader swoon.
Unfortunately there’s the matter of the brain-craving zombies the duo have to deal with in almost every scene. These ravenous stiffs have swarmed across 19th-century Britain and are now very close to bringing about the apocalypse. It should come as no surprise that Elizabeth’s other potential beau, Mr. Wickham (Jack Huston), is in large part responsible. Nor should it be a bombshell that the original book’s sharp social satire makes for an awkward fit with the demands of a tale about gluttonous ghouls from beyond the grave.
To be fair, there’s promise in even a one-joke premise like this. One of the few inspired ideas is turning the sequence in which Elizabeth refuses Darcy’s first marriage proposal into a literal brawl. It’s terrific fun watching both characters roundhouse-kick each other while speaking in bodice-era patois. But screenwriter-director Burr Steers shows little affinity for the horror elements, keeping the gore strictly PG-13 and proving ineffectual at filming action scenes. There should be a charge watching Elizabeth and sisters slo-mo strut their way through a ball slicing down zombies in their midst – except not. Best curl up with a good book, instead. I know one you might like. – Reuters/ Hollywood Reporter