‘We Bury the Dead’ review: Ridley stars in zombie drama with fading pulse

The first sentence of the tagline for the new film “We Bury the Dead” reads, “After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don’t just rise — they hunt,” its official synopsis going on to use words and phrases including “catastrophic military disaster,” “quarantine zone” and “undead.”

Yep, this is a zombie movie.

However, no doubt at least in part to what appears to have been a relatively limited budget, this is more of a character study than a thriller based around heart-pounding encounters with hordes of mindless hungry types.

That’s understandable.

The problem is that as a character study, writer-director Zak Hilditch’s “We Bury the Dead” — in theaters this week — largely spins its post-apocalyptic wheels despite some nice touches and a game effort from star Daisy Ridley.

The “Star Wars” alum portrays Ava Newman, an American living in California with her Australian husband, Mitch (Matt Whelan). After a flashback introducing us to the seemingly happy pair, we find Ava in the Australian island state of Tasmania, where “the pulse” — a U.S. military experiment gone wrong — has killed many.

Ava has traveled there to join the Body Retrieval Unit to search for Mitch, who was in Woodridge, in southern Tasmania, on a work retreat at the time of the disaster. Traveling that far south is forbidden due to inherent dangers, but Ava intends to find a way to reach Mitch, who, with any luck, is alive.

However, while some affected folks have been awakening after the disaster, they’re not exactly themselves. If anyone in the BRU encounters any deceased showing signs of activity, Ava and others are told by a military man, soldiers will get to them quickly to put down the rising dead “with the dignity they deserve.”

Early on, Ava befriends Clay (Brenton Thwaites of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”), a long-haired, foul-mouthed, cigarette-smoking Australian with a far different reason for volunteering for the BRU. She makes a deal with him to take her south on a motorbike they find, which he covets.

They go about their way with only minimal issues — until they encounter Riley (Mark Coles Smith, “Hard Rock Medical”), a soldier who eventually offers to take Ava on the rest of her journey. Seeing the wedding ring on his finger, she chooses to trust him.

Without going into too much detail about Ava’s time with Riley, it’s safe to say that, as is the case with much zombie-based fare, “We Bury the Dead” traffics in the well-worn idea that humans living among the undead may be the real danger.

To be fair, despite the film’s tagline, Hilditch — who, according to the movie’s production notes, found inspiration for the tale in his mother’s long battle with cancer — tries to do something more soulful with his zombie offering. Through flashbacks, Hilditch (“1922,” “These Final Hours”) gradually peels away the layers of Ava’s relationship with her husband, paying off that bit of the narrative reasonably nicely in the third act.

For too much of “We Bury the Dead,” however, Hilditch saddles the viewer with bland dialogue and too few scares. Cinematographer Steve Annis (“I Am Mother”) gives the film an appropriately stark look, the sparse but haunting music of composer Chris Clark (“Elysium”) lands as it’s intended and the sound design of Duncan Campbell (“I Am Mother”) really hits home when the undead grind their teeth — it’s highly unsettling — but all of that goes only so far.

Ridley (“The Marsh King’s Daughter,” “Young Woman and the Sea”) is left to do a bit more heavy lifting than probably is fair to ask of her. For as promising as she seemed when introduced to the world as Jedi-to-be Rey in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” she seems to possess only so high a ceiling and can’t find a way to elevate this so-so material.

That said, her time on screen with Smith is, increasingly, edge-of-your-seat stuff, a credit to the actors and Hilditch. Unfortunately, though, that’s as compelling as “We Bury the Dead” gets.

‘We Bury the Dead’

Where: Theaters.

When: Jan. 2.

Rated: R for strong violent content, gore, language and brief drug use.

Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.