I’ve been waiting a long time to see Pride & Prejudice & Zombies from director Burr Steers who also penned the screenplay based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen, which was fantastic. I was so excited when it was released last week on Blu-ray and DVD. I had high-hopes for the film from the beginning and I was not let down.
The cast for this period film includes Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Ellie Bamber, Millie Brady, Suki Waterhouse, Douglass Booth, Sally Phillips, Charles Dance, Jack Huston, Lena Headey, Matt Smith and more.
Lilly James stars as the proud, Elizabeth Bennet whose fighting skills are as incredible as her beauty. Elizabeth, like her sisters, was trained in the art of fighting, which is necessary due to the enormous number of zombies that roam both the country side and towns, as well as the normal training for high bred ladies, like dancing and singing. Elizabeth and her sisters, who equally favor their bullets to their bodices, are of marrying age and their mother desperately wants to see her daughters all married off to wealthy suitors. Jane (Bella Heathcote), considered the most lovely of the sisters, has fallen for the handsome and rich Mr. Bingley (Booth). Bingley happens to be the best friend of Colonel Darcy, who Elizabeth secretly favors. Darcy (Sam Riley) is a quiet and stern man, known for his fighting skills. Elizabeth and Darcy have a tense and frustrating relationship. They spend much of the movie hating each other. Let’s face it, the one you love can get under your skin like no one else can. Tension builds in the film as Elizabeth is faced with another suitor who Darcy despises. While the Bennets and their bows dance around their emotions the country is being over run with zombies. The zombie’s in PPZ are not your average undead. Besides the rotting flesh and their hunger for brains, they operate much as an average person, even capable of carrying out military campaigns.
I’ll stop there. I would hate to spoil the story for you.
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is true to the literary style of Jane Austen’s original novel. Meaning, if you hated the original story, odds are you will find issue with the film. Personally, I loved it. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is a departure from the now common place zombie film that is filled with mindless zombies and constant action. This film is more about the relationships between man and woman and the issues that class bring, than zombie killing, though there is plenty of that too. I was pleased with the film as a whole. PPZ is one of the best adaptions to be made recently. It stays very true to novel and the cast did a fantastic job with their roles. If I had to rate it on a numbers scale, I would say it stands at 8 1/2 out of 10.
You can now find Pride & Prejudice & Zombies wherever films are sold.
