"I Do Not Know Which I Admire More. Your Skill As A Warrior Or Your Resolve As A Woman..."
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Burr Steers' adaptation pretty much adheres to the ridiculous nature of the films' title. You guessed it folks, it's Pride and Prejudice, just with added zombies, added gore, and a comedic element that owes much to the performance of the Eleventh Doctor himself, Matt Smith, whose turn as the incredibly pompous and teeth-shatteringly annoying Mr. Collins is the stand-out performance in an otherwise flat and simplistic zombie-fest. Although the film manages to get the Pride and Prejudice side right, with the major plot threads and notions of wealth, class and a rafter of prejudices all being adhered to within the films' rather over-long runtime, annoyingly, the zombie side of things begin to feel rather repetitive and irksome after a while, with continuous bouts of zombie-killing goodness not strong enough to contain the attention it believes it deserves. With this in mind, the final act of the movie in which we witness the apparent end of days with a Land of the Dead level of zombies, ultimately becomes a rather tedious set of affairs resulting in the audience leaving the cinema with a bad taste of wondering whether a lot more could have been done.
Sam Riley and Lily James both impress as the films' two leads, with both having enough lavish set pieces and script to sink their teeth into as it were, yet cameos from Game of Thrones centrepieces Lena Headey and Charles Dance are rather shallow and ultimately, unremarkable. Although strapped with a BBFC applied 15 rating, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies easily could have been turned down a notch or two in order to gain the much desire 12A rating, a classification which not only would have suited more of its' key audience, but would have definitely benefited from getting the wider audience it may need to be regarded as a box office success. Away from speculation and guesswork however, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ultimately passes the time rather harmlessly, but is ultimately less memorable than the best-selling text on which it is based upon.
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