This Regency romcom-horror-satire is, ultimately, what I expected it to be. It’s delightful in some places, bland in others, and corny in still others. I’m not sure if I’d it’s worth it on the whole, but on the Other Doctor Lives front, this movie features an absolutely wonderful performance from Matt Smith.
The world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is given a zombie twist. Set generations after the onset of a zombie plague, England has adapted, setting up assorted isolationist/quarantine protocols to keep the infection from taking root in a community, and zombie-slaying has joined the list of skills any accomplished young lady needs to learn, right along with needlepoint and music. When Captains Darcy and Bingley, fresh from fighting on the frontlines in London, arrive in town, Elizabeth Bennet is wary of Darcy’s seemingly-heartless attitude, but after initially rebuffing her, Darcy is taken with her fighting prowess and wit.
My overall impression is that this movie is just a little bit lacking. Off-the-wall as the premise is, it feels like it could’ve been something really fun but never quite gets there. It leans into neither the Jane Austen stuff nor the zombie stuff hard enough for either to really pop, and so, rather than successfully melding the the two aspects in a way that’s compelling, we’re left with a mishmash that reflects more what it could’ve been than what it is. (Note: I know this is based on a book, but I haven’t read it, so I can’t say how much of this is specifically the fault of the movie versus the source material.)
Also, the gender themes don’t entirely work for me. Lizzy is painted as an Independent Young Badass who doesn’t think she’ll ever get married, in part because she’s so above such things and in part because marriage is synonymous with hanging up one’s sword/flintlock, and she doesn’t want to stop fighting zombies. First of all, why reimagine this parlor-room society as one in which any lady worth her salt knows how to fight and then still say that a married woman doesn’t do such things? Second, this feels like too much of a Not Like the Other Girls portrayal for Lizzy, which, for me, doesn’t fit the character. Lizzy is clever and observant and hopes to marry for love rather than status or position, and her views toward courtship and marriage are different than some of her friends’ and sisters’, but that doesn’t mean she spurns marriage as a concept and has written off men to be a licensed badass, only to have her defenses worn down by her surprise relationship with Darcy. I don’t mind that she fights zombies – all the zombie incorporation into the story is ultimately fine. It’s the mindset that comes along with her zombie-fighting that feels #NotMyLizzy to me.
Whenever zombies come up on this blog, I’ve talked about how they freak me out, and it takes a certain type of zombie media to bypass my discomfort with them (stuff like In the Flesh and Warm Bodies, for example, are so good that they make it worth it.) I was able to get through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, even though, unlike In the Flesh, these zombies very much do propogate and spread through the bites. However, I’m interested by the slant that “turning” is a long, gradual process, and most zombies maintain their human identities for quite a while and require multiple helpings of human brains before they fully turn. That adds a different kind of tension to the proceedings, as there may be a zombie sitting beside you at the whist table without you knowing it, and I think I’d have liked the movie to play with that notion even more. Also, I think the mere fact of setting the story within Pride and Prejudice helped me get a little distance from it, keep it at arms’ length. Or quite possibly, the pandemic has anchored my germaphobia so much in the real world that this fictionalized angle doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Whatever the reason, I didn’t have trouble watching the movie and then turning off my lights that night.
The cast is mostly good, getting the job done for their roles they’re given, which means they’re doing what’s needed for this film even if that doesn’t jive with the Austen characters I know. Lily James (Rose from Downton Abbey, though she’s gone onto other things) is engaging enough as this version of Lizzy, and she plays well off of Sam Riley’s Darcy. I know Riley best as Diaval from the Maleficent films, and I was surprised when I realized he was playing Darcy, but I think he pulls it off as this jaded, zombie-war-veteran incarnation. By contrast, when I saw Douglas Booth and Jack Huston’s names in the credits, I quickly pegged that they were playing Bingley and Wickham respectively. I remember Booth as Pip from Masterpiece’s Great Expectations a handful of years ago, and Huston is someone who always makes me think, “What do I know him from?” (most recently, it’s been season 4 of Fargo,) but who just leaves me with a sense of “That Guy.” Meanwhile, a couple former Lannisters get in on the action, with Charles Dance (Tywin) as an effective Mr. Bennet and Lena Headey (Cersei) as a very reimagined Lady Catherine de Burgh.
Which brings us to Matt Smith as Mr. Collins, hands down my favorite part of the movie. While I don’t know if anyone will ever fully supplant David Bamber’s performance from the 1995 miniseries in my mind, Smith is a riot as the obsequious parson. He just has everything down cold, from the “delicate compliments” he pays the Bennet sisters to his fawning over Lady Catherine’s patronage. I love that, when he dances with Lizzy at the Netherfield ball, the embarrassment is that he’s too into it with all kinds of unnecessary flourishes, not that he’s a hapless dancer. For the most part, he blends well into the zombie side of things. I love a throwaway bit where he and the sisters are walking into Meryton and, at a tense moment, he asks, “Oh, is there some sort of trouble?”, adding, “…Oh, it appears there is,” as all the Bennet girls draw their swords in unison.
For a movie that often only feels quasi-like Pride and Prejudice, Smith is everything a Mr. Collins ought to be. What a delight.
Accent Watch
So posh. It’s funny that Eleven is the only new Who Doctor who speaks with more of an RP accent, and yet a lot of characters I’ve seen Smith play since then are exponentially posher than his Doctor (Christopher Isherwood, Prince Philip, now Mr. Collins.)
Recommend?
In General – A cautious maybe. It’s interesting as a curiosity, even if I don’t think it lives up to what it could have been.
Matt Smith – For sure. Smith is a stitch in this role, just a blast.
Warnings
Zombie violence/gore, sensuality/suggestiveness, mild language, and drinking.
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