Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

Just to put this out there at the start of this: I have never seen or read anything to do with Pride and Prejudice other than this film, therefore this review will be based on how well it tells it's own story rather than the original story, i did however see it with someone who has read pride and prejudice and they said it was a faithful-ish adaptation, but make of that what you will. Set in an alternate version of 19th century England where a strange plague causes those infected by it to become zombies the film follows Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters who have all been trained to defend themselves from the undead, and who's mother is obsessed with ensuring they all marry wealthy suitors, but to her annoyance Elizabeth refuses to marry anyone who would force her to give up her weapons and live a normal domestic life. She soon meets the arrogant and brooding Fitzwilliam Darcy, who she finds utterly detestable, Her sister falls in love with the handsome Charles Bingley, and then the ball they're at is attacked by zombie. First and foremost, if you are planning to go and see this film just because it has zombies in it, I would recommend you reconsider as this film is primarily a love story, with the zombies as an addition. This does not detract from the enjoyment of the film in any way so long as you know what kind of movie you're going to watch, but people who go to see it just because "and zombies" will likely be disappointed as whilst it does have a number of action/horror scenes, the "Pride and Prejudice" aspects outweigh the "and zombies" parts of it. The movie actually does quite a good job at telling a love story, with the conflicts and connections between the characters being for the most part believable and understandable, the zombies as I've already stated often seem like just an addition made to give people a reason to watch another version of the same story that has been told time and time again but they are a welcome addition that add something new to the table, and whilst most of it is just pride and prejudice some of the new additions can be quite clever and interesting. The cast playing the re-imagined versions of the characters deliver a believable, engaging yet sometimes shallow and lackluster performance although I believe that's more because of the shortening of the story cutting out character establishing scenes from the original novel. -warning, the rest of this paragraph is just the main cast and roles they have previously (or since) played- The sympathetic main character Elizabeth Bennet is played by Lily James who played Cinderella in the 2015 live action movie, and Natasha Rostova in the BBC 2016 series War and Peace. The arrogant and slightly detestable Mr Darcy is played by Sam Riley who played Ian Curtis in the biographical film Control, and Diaval in Disney's Maleficent. The charming and enigmatic Mr Wickham is played by Jack Huston who is best known as Richard Harrow from the series Boardwalk Empire, and Pete Musane in American Hustle. Elizabeth's sister Jane is played by Bella Heathcote who is best known for her role as Maggie Evans, Victoria Winters, and Josette du Pres in the 2012 film Dark Shadows. The slightly useless Mr Bingley was played by Douglas Booth who is know for his role as Pip in the 2011 version of Great Expectations and Romeo from the 2013 film Romeo and Juliet. TL,DR: The film was entertaining and interesting, if a bit disappointing, but if you are in any way interested in Pride and Prejudice or just an interesting take on a classic story I would recommend you give it a try. This film gets an 7/10.