Movies that begin with a wedding often don’t bode well for the couple. Starting with the so-called happy ending can only really guarantee a reversal of fortune. In the case of “We Bury the Dead,” in theaters Friday, something cosmically catastrophic is coming: the accidental detonation of an experimental weapon that instantly wipes out some 500,000 people in Tasmania, including Ava’s (Daisy Ridley) husband Mitch (Matt Whelan). Perhaps they should have toasted to something other than Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare).”
Grief manifests for everyone in its own way and the only thing Ava can think to do is board a plane and search for Mitch. It’s almost certain he’s dead. In fact, the resort where he was staying on a work trip is south of an area that is still burning — the humanitarian cleanup mission she joins isn’t allowed to go there. There’s a little extra complication too: Some of the dead have been “coming back.” The helpers are told not to worry, but also not to engage. Simply light a flare and someone in the military will be there quickly to kill them. Again.
If the promise of zombies might send some hightailing back across the ocean, Ava is only emboldened by hope. What if Mitch is one of the reanimated? What could it mean? Why do some come back and not others? What if he can be saved? If it seems like a somewhat delusional dream, especially once she starts getting glimpses of some of the zombie specimens with their bloodcurdling teeth grinding and generally unpleasant demeanor, just wait: There’s at least one person she’ll meet who has an even crazier plan.
Ava works dutifully for a bit, removing bodies from wherever they’ve fallen. It’s disgusting, thankless work full of smells, bodily fluids and the occasional jump scare. Her partner, Clay (Brenton Thwaites), seems mostly unbothered by it all. With his long hair and ’70s dropout mustache, he’s a product of a different era despite his young age, more interested in the leftover cocaine and aspirational cars and motorcycles they encounter along the way than any bigger purpose. Eventually, Ava decides to just ask him to help her, and off they go into the forbidden zone.
The film was written and directed by Zak Hilditch, an Australian filmmaker perhaps best known for “These Final Hours,” also an apocalyptic thriller with extinction and procreation on its mind.
“We Bury the Dead” is ultimately a movie about grief that seems to be unsure of how much it wants to go full zombie. We feel for Ava on her hopeless quest, although it’s a bit of a meditative slow burn as the story reveals little morsels about how her marriage had already curdled. Perhaps some real-time reflection might have been helpful for those watching her on this quest, but the screenplay relegates her story to flashbacks. Present-day Ava has to keep it all in the eyes.
Zombies have long served as cinematic metaphors, and this film at least gestures toward something novel. But it also doesn’t totally commit to its own idea that some of the zombies might have souls worth saving and instead delves into more familiar tropes. Also, despite the consistent teeth grinding, it remains a bit unclear what happens if and when one gets bit/scratched/whatever by the undead.
Nonetheless, the very threat of zombies keeps things kind of interesting, perhaps because of all that’s come before, but this film seems to be suffering the same plight as its protagonist. Both are searching for closure, a bigger point, something that might give the whole thing meaning. What they both arrive at is the kind of wild, bizarre ending that turns what once seemed like a decent original standalone into something much more terrifying: A setup.
“We Bury the Dead,” a Vertical release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “strong violent content, brief drug use, language, gore.” Running time: 95 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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