Great poster. Great film.
I think this film is better than it is.
I have labeled this film as “great” even though I know it has flaws that may say otherwise.
I will stand by my rating as I have now seen 28 Weeks Later 4 times and every time I go away buzzed. It takes risks many other films don’t, shows no loyalty to principal characters and continually moves the goalposts so that you can never be sure how it will pan out.
The first film just didn’t resonate with me, I loved the first how with the slow build and sense of confusion, hated the last half where it lost the plot and turned into a shlock piece without needing to.
It should have been better than it was, but in any case I am glad that they greenlit the sequel.
28 Weeks Later starts with an awesome setpiece. A small group are holed up in a barricaded house, trying to lead an ordinary existence while reality outside suggests otherwise. Among these largely faceless future victims are a couple Don (Robert Carlysle) and Alice (Catherine McCormack), whose kids are overseas holidaying, and they are unsure if they are safe or not.
One evening at dinner time there is a knock-knock at the door, with a young boy asking for entry. Against their better judgment they let the boy in, inadvertently alerting the rage-infected horde of their presence. The horde quickly gain access to the building and in a quick and frenzied attack soon there are only 3 survivors, Don, Alice and the boy.
After a quick standoff Don is faced with an unenviable decision, and as he runs off… alone… he is already internalizing the implications of what just happened. (EVERY time I watch this bit I still think “Wow, that’s harsh!”.)
The scene takes advantage of long tracking shots (especially the getaway), quick edits that cause confusion and a sense of urgency while still letting you see what is happening and slow building music that is repeated through the film. (Which some hate but for some reason I love.)
The scene is awesome and even if the rest of the film sucked I would argue it is worth the price of a rental. The rest of the film doesn’t suck by the way.
Now, the Rage virus. Not a zombie creator as such, the victims are basically instantaneously filled with an uncontrollable desire to “harm and damage” any living being within their sphere in any way possible, the old 2 thumbed eye gouge proves popular, followed by frenzied pummeling.
But that was the past. As the credits tell us the virus has now left London, with all Rage afflicted victims having long since starved or been killed. There is a US Army caretaker force in place as they gradually rebuild the city and repopulate with uninfected, carefully screened new punters.
While the clean up is carried on there are restricted zones which are no-gos to anyone but the soldiers, and everyone must remain within designated areas.
The new batch of repatriates include Don’s kids Andy (12?) and Tammy (~15?), Don is now the caretaker of a large apartment building and as such has access to almost everywhere thanks to his magic keycard. After some judicious usage of his recollections he explains to the kids the events behind Alice’s untimely removal from the scene and they move on with life…
For about a day that is. The kids decide that they must for some reason go home for a visit, despite it being in a restricted zone, in doing so they come across someone lurking in the attic.
Mum?
Alice is the first survivor found in months, she is either just not hungry for human flesh or at least appears infection free, though she is immediately taken in for exhaustive testing.
Don is a little confused and sheepish about the whole thing, especially when his kids choose to grill him on why he lied about her demise (in his defense it sure looked like she was fucked).
Meanwhile the army are at odds over what to do with Alice, it seems that she is actually infected, only as a carrier, so she is not prone to the Rage side-effect. They are torn between keeping her for more testing and killing her and testing the leftovers (agreed, definitely what they should have done).
But this is a zombie movie, so they don’t even get the chance to argue about it much. Don uses his magic keycard to access Alice’s lab room, and after a quick kiss things go a little haywire, to put it extremely mildly.
In other words, as the immortal bard Arnold Shwarzenegger once said: “Consida dat a divorsse!”
Code Red.
The remainder of the film is chaotic, initially they try to contain the outbreak but when that goes awry the rules are thrown out the window.
An army Chief Medical Officer named Scarlet (Rose Byrne) believes that Andy has similar traits to his Mum that may hold the key to curing the virus, so she enlists Sgt Doyle (Jeremy Renner) as a bodyguard and they set off to take the kids to safety.
Highlights in the final hour include:
– A gruesomely bloody game of Chinese Rage Whispers in a crowded car park from which there is no easy escape.
– A sniper pindown and the initial extermination/containment scene.
– A Helicopter lawnmower scene.
Renner and Byrne are both solid in their roles, Renner especially even though he was not yet “Hurt Locker” famous, his Sgt Doyle is straightforward but pivotal in moving the plot and providing some of the tension along the way.
Another strength is that the kids are just kids, they aren’t super-geniuses, or hip-hop talking witty shitbags. They run at times, get skittish, and the fact that Dad is a frenzied blood spitting killer leaves them a little perturbed.
28 Weeks Later is actually more an action film than a horror flick, but the horror bits are solid and the action is just great. Losing a few of the repeated “coincidence” meetings would have made me happier but I guess Hollywood can’t finish a film without wrapping everything up in a nice neat littlle bow.
The final sequence ends with the suggestion of another sequel, I know I’d queue up for 28 Months later based upon this effort.
Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Great setpieces, explosive action and jaw dropping plot turns, this movie gets me every time, especially the first 10 minutes.
