'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Late Review

Cross Creek Pictures

I must confess, I had no interest in watching this movie when it came out. Hence, the very, very tardy review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 

It still sounds a bit ridiculous if I'm to be perfectly honest. To think that someone concocted the idea of transforming Jane Austen's beloved characters into zombie fighters is incredible to me. But it worked.

The casting of Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet and Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy or Colonel Darcy are spot on. This is a much better Elizabeth than Anna Maxwell's casting for Death Comes to Pemberley in my humble opinion. Ms. Maxwell is an excellent actress, just not the right Elizabeth. Doesn't have the dark eyes that Austen mentions and Darcy falls in love with. 'She's tolerable, but not handsome enough...'.

Lily is perfect for the role, she's kick ass with her fighting and very beautiful. Actually, prettier than her sister Jane (Bella Heathcote) in this case. Her personality is also in tune with the character from the novel. Feisty, sassy.

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Sam Riley plays a good Mr. Darcy. He is handsome and does the brooding thing very well. I liked him in the role. I also liked that we see a Darcy that is more active with all the sword fighting and horseback riding.

Since Austen writes from Elizabeth's perspective, we miss a lot about what Darcy is doing while he is not present for different events. We can only guess and many fiction writers have done just that.  It's a fascinating topic to think of all the things that were happening with Darcy.

I was disappointed this story didn't include Colonel Fitzwilliam nor did it explain how Darcy became a Colonel himself. There are a lot of holes in the plot and the dialogue seems a bit forced at times, especially when the script inserts the classic lines from the novel.

My favorite scene was the failed proposal when Elizabeth starts to throw anything she can get her hands on at arrogant Darcy. Their fighting is sexy. You can tell he's trying to remain a gentleman, but she's tough as nails, so he gives up.

Sam Riley and Lily James in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Cross Creek Pictures)

George Wickham (Jack Huston) is okay. Not as dashing as the character in the novel. Don't forget, he was very handsome. As handsome as Darcy or more so. Didn't find him charming or handsome. Casting fell flat on that choice.

I did like Charles Bingley (Douglas Booth). He's sweet, handsome and a bit childish. I think Bingley has a purpose in Jane Austen's novel. He is Darcy's conscience when it comes to inferiority and doesn't have a backbone. Of course he comes from trade, so he's Darcy's inferior.

The plot is interesting and even though I'm not a zombies person, I enjoyed seeing the women kick the men's ass. I can totally see Elizabeth taking up arms like that. As I previously stated, I enjoyed watching Darcy be a kick ass too.

I really liked how the did the scene in which Elizabeth reads Darcy's letter explaining his role in separating Bingley and Jane, and the story about Wickham. They added his ardent love declaration which was a nice touch and made her see that he still cared, even after she fought him. It hit her like a ton of bricks.

Of course, the best scenes are the ones in which she goes chasing after him. She already knows she loves him and he went to rescue her sister, so now he's in danger. The battle of London is raging and the bridge will be blown off to stop the zombies.

Darcy has to take care of Wickham before he can get to safety and her, but she comes to him first. Sigh. The scene on the bridge is so romantic and for a moment I thought the script writers had killed Darcy. No!!

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It was a relief to see him show up again at Lady Catherine's home in Rosings and oh the declaration. It was perfection. Sam made me fall in love with Darcy all over again. Thank you for giving us a kiss and wedding.

I still haven't forgiven you, Joe Wright, for not giving us that little bit. Seriously?

I'm happy that I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, even if it's two years after the release. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars, mostly based on the plot and forced dialogue.