Daisy Ridley’s acting career has not exactly taken off since the Star Wars sequel trilogy made her the new “Skywalker” hero. To be fair to her, being the lead in Star Wars movies has never guaranteed an endless stream of success or opportunities to star in more blockbusters, just ask Mark Hamill or Hayden Christensen. Since 2019’s much-maligned Rise of Skywalker was released in theaters, Ridley has mostly been in smaller indie projects that have seen limited releases to theaters and film festivals. As of writing this review, I have not seen any of her films except for a little horror movie called We Bury the Dead.

Pros

Decent acting from the cast
Makeup effects look good
A more unique story and scenario for a “zombie” film
Under two hours
The “infection” is ambiguous enough to create some thought-provoking questions

Cons

Characters making dumb or irrational decisions
Digital effects do not look great
Inconsistent pacing
Ridley’s accent is inconsistent
The “infection” is not clearly defined, and the interesting questions surrounding it are not explored
Characters conveniently leave and then come back into the plot as though it’s a natural thing that would happen

Plot & Thoughts

Ava (Daisy Ridley) is an American who is flying to Australia to help out with a disaster recovery effort after a weapon of mass destruction goes off “accidentally” in the region, causing mass death and destruction. The reason she felt compelled to fly all the way to Australia is a personal one, however, as her husband was apparently in the country when the weapon went off. She seeks either to find him and save him if she can, or simply find closure if she finds him dead.

She helps out with the body recovery and identification process at first, but her goal is nonetheless to eventually sneak past the military forces that are guarding the humanitarian efforts in the hopes of finding her husband. Why is there a military presence in this philanthropic situation? Well, the electromagnetic pulse that followed in the wake of the original explosion affected some people differently than others, who just died outright. Some have become mindless ghouls with chittering teeth and aggressive tendencies, unable to fully remember who they are or were before disaster struck. With the help of a rugged volunteer named Clay (Brenton Thwaites), Ava manages to take her search for her husband beyond the restrictions of the Australian military, but will they survive the post-apocalyptic Australia and any crazy people who might still be residing there?

A classic argument I love to have with my significant other is over whether or not 28 Days Later is a zombie movie. I believe it is because I do not think you have to be dead or seeking to eat flesh/brains to be classified as a zombie. I think you just have to be mindless or lacking your own logical control, as movies dating back to White Zombie from 1932 would suggest, but my lady disagrees…even though she’s wrong.

If you are on her side in this argument, I would be curious where your opinion falls when it comes to We Bury the Dead, because the aggressively mindless people in it are not actually dead, nor do they have an infectious disease that we’re aware of. Their brains have been affected by the electromagnetic pulse to the point that their humanity has been seemingly stripped. However, their metabolisms are allegedly intact, and the affected women are capable of giving birth, as we learn by the end. I bring all this up only because We Bury the Dead is treated like a zombie movie in some ways, but then it has its own qualities to it to make it stand out as more than just an episode of The Walking Dead.

The fact that the people are not actually dead adds a little more humanity to the situation that you don’t normally get. That, coupled with the fact that not all of them are immediately aggressive, like in 28 Days Later, makes the ruthlessness of the military’s swift executions of them more meaningful and disturbing. While they’re treated like zombies who have an infection that could spread, it’s never explicit that they’re capable of causing more death or plague than a regular person. This is something I can praise for as much as I can chide it.

The ambiguity of the mental condition of the zombies adds to the bleak tone of the film and its violence, playing into the usual themes of zombie films that highlight the horrors of humanity. At the same time, a lack of the imminent threat of a zombie bite or an infection that can spread removes some of the tension. It also makes the ruthless actions of the Australian military less logical, which is never really explored in a meaningful way. Since the first third of the film revolves around Ava and others trying to remove bodies in areas where these zombies reside, the lack of danger is definitely felt. It’s a shame because I think the makeup effects and the acting from the zombies are pretty effective at making them creepy, just not dangerous enough.

What really doesn’t work is when characters make dumb decisions for no reason other than to move the plot or set up a scene. Midway through the film, another character is introduced who you would most certainly not trust, especially in a zombie movie. Yet, Ava gives this character far more of the benefit of the doubt than they deserve, doing favors that make little sense if you had an understanding of trauma as she would. It sets up for a tense scene at the end of the second act, but it doesn’t work if you think more than the writers did about how she could have ended up in the same situation without looking like an idiot. The writers also couldn’t seem to figure out a way to do all this naturally without having a character leave the plot and then come back for the final act.

Regardless of the clunkiness of the plot and its writing, I think the actors do a lot to elevate the film, including Daisy Ridley. I think her American accent is not great, and I would have preferred she just kept her natural accent because it filters in from time to time during line deliveries. Still, she does a decent job when it comes to bringing big emotions to the surface during certain moments, while also giving a thousand-yard stare towards the so-called undead that has elements of fear and sadness each time, which makes her character seem concerned that she’ll face the same thing when she finds her husband. It’s not a perfect performance, by any means, as I was pulled out of it every time her accent fumbled, but she gives a lot more meaningful effort than she did in the Star Wars films. I certainly would rather watch We Bury the Dead over those movies, any day of the week.

TL;DR

We Bury the Dead is not a groundbreaking horror film that does a whole lot new with the zombie sub-genre, nor is it a showcase of brilliant cinematography, direction, acting, etc. It’s a middle-of-the-road film that has some neat aspects to it worthy of praise, like the makeup and dark undertones. There are some cool concepts and themes regarding the zombies of the world available in this movie, but it, unfortunately, doesn’t really explore enough to convey much meaning. Of the various films I’ve seen with Daisy Ridley, this is easily her best, though that is a low, low bar to clear. At less than two hours, there are many far worse zombie films.

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