A scene from 28 WEEKS LATER (2007).
© Fox Atomic
Mania Grade: B
Maniac Grade: C-
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots, Rose Byrne, Mackintosh Muggleton, Catherine McCormack, Harold Perrineau, Idris Elba
Writers: Rowan Joffe and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo & Jesus Olmo
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Distributor: Fox Atomic
Maniac Grade: C-
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots, Rose Byrne, Mackintosh Muggleton, Catherine McCormack, Harold Perrineau, Idris Elba
Writers: Rowan Joffe and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo & Jesus Olmo
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Distributor: Fox Atomic
28 Weeks Later…
By: Brian ThomasReview Date: Friday, May 11, 2007
Storywise, I was not that impressed with 28 Days Later. It’s your basic big outbreak horror movie ala Gearge Romero’s The Crazies – an easily transferred, fast acting virus turns people into raving, bloodthirsty berzerkers. The plague of ferocious maniacs spreads like wildfire, destroying London and much of the British Isles. Technically, it’s not as zombie movie, but in effect it’s the same as the infected are difficult to kill due to their utter indifference to everything except savage murder. Survivors on the run take cover in a protected area, only to find that the military industrial complex and human weaknesses are just as dangerous as the infected. It’s been done dozens of times, and yet, it’s difficult to tire of the basic premise of all of civilization coming unraveled.
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and writer Alex Garland, who executive produced this sequel, keep things interesting by keeping it real. 28 Days Later is one of the most grittily realistic horror films of its subgenre, hitting us square with an angsty punk aesthetic. 28 Weeks Later achieves the same atmosphere with a bigger budget and often more striking imagery. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) gives us the requisite jack-in-the-box scares and bloody shocks along with the same sort of heavy social commentary, but with the help of cinematographer Enrique Chediak (Turistas), it’s a more effective visual feast than its predecessor.
During the outbreak, we see Don (Robert Carlyle of The Full Monty) panic in a farmhouse, leaving his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack of A Sound of Thunder) behind as the infected break in. 28 weeks later, the virus has run its course in the quarantined UK, with the ironically helpless infected hordes dying off of starvation. With Britain occupied by helpful, if antsy, US troops, Don is given a caretaking job at a high rise apartment building as reconstruction begins.
Don’s teenage daughter Tammy (Imogen Poots) and her younger brother Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton – did they just hire the two most photogenic kids with the weirdest names?) return to London, having luckily been sent out of the country during all the trouble. Don tells them there was nothing he could do to save their mom – an interesting moral point in the narrative, in that we think he may have abandoned her, but we’re not really sure what he could have done other than sacrifice himself needlessly.
The trouble is that Mom’s not dead. Sneaking off to collect keepsakes from their house, the kids find Alice living like a deranged – but still human – animal, apparently the beneficiary of a natural immunity to the plague. While medic Scarlet (Rose Byrne of Wicker Park) is excited by the possibilities for a vaccine, and she argues with officials over how best to handle the situation, Don sneaks in to beg forgiveness. Alice is good enough – or insane enough – to take him back for a kiss, instantly transferring the virus and turning him into a monster.
After that, it’s a losing battle to keep the menace contained. Sniper Doyle (Jeremy Renner of North Country) balks at orders to begin popping off the innocent as well as the infected, and goes AWOL to help Scarlet try to get the kids and their valuable hemoglobin safely out of the country as the bombing begins.
Other than the pedestrian plot elements, the film’s greatest weakness is that its monsters are uninteresting. Sure, they’re frightening things charging out of the darkness drooling and growling. But at least zombies have the fascination of the living dead going for them. Creatures without personality, they may as well be the giant rabbits of Night of the Lepus, just a plot device to necessitate the fall of social order. And most of the uninfected cast isn’t much better.
On the other hand, there’s the pure primitive fun of a ripping horror yarn here. As Doyle’s pilot buddy Flynn, Harold Perrineau (Matrix Revolutions) has to spend the whole movie in the cockpit of a helicopter, yet he gets to be part of the film’s most gruesome and crowd-pleasing moment. It’s disappointing that for all its artifice, there’s not a much better movie going on underneath, but the show still provides a rush.
One indispensable thrill factor is the music provided by John Murphy (Miami Vice), whose dirge-like rock theme builds in intensity throughout action sequences, then lingers in the background as a reminder of the lurking menace during quieter scenes.
Copyright © 2007 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound’s Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks, available now!
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and writer Alex Garland, who executive produced this sequel, keep things interesting by keeping it real. 28 Days Later is one of the most grittily realistic horror films of its subgenre, hitting us square with an angsty punk aesthetic. 28 Weeks Later achieves the same atmosphere with a bigger budget and often more striking imagery. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) gives us the requisite jack-in-the-box scares and bloody shocks along with the same sort of heavy social commentary, but with the help of cinematographer Enrique Chediak (Turistas), it’s a more effective visual feast than its predecessor.
During the outbreak, we see Don (Robert Carlyle of The Full Monty) panic in a farmhouse, leaving his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack of A Sound of Thunder) behind as the infected break in. 28 weeks later, the virus has run its course in the quarantined UK, with the ironically helpless infected hordes dying off of starvation. With Britain occupied by helpful, if antsy, US troops, Don is given a caretaking job at a high rise apartment building as reconstruction begins.
Don’s teenage daughter Tammy (Imogen Poots) and her younger brother Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton – did they just hire the two most photogenic kids with the weirdest names?) return to London, having luckily been sent out of the country during all the trouble. Don tells them there was nothing he could do to save their mom – an interesting moral point in the narrative, in that we think he may have abandoned her, but we’re not really sure what he could have done other than sacrifice himself needlessly.
The trouble is that Mom’s not dead. Sneaking off to collect keepsakes from their house, the kids find Alice living like a deranged – but still human – animal, apparently the beneficiary of a natural immunity to the plague. While medic Scarlet (Rose Byrne of Wicker Park) is excited by the possibilities for a vaccine, and she argues with officials over how best to handle the situation, Don sneaks in to beg forgiveness. Alice is good enough – or insane enough – to take him back for a kiss, instantly transferring the virus and turning him into a monster.
After that, it’s a losing battle to keep the menace contained. Sniper Doyle (Jeremy Renner of North Country) balks at orders to begin popping off the innocent as well as the infected, and goes AWOL to help Scarlet try to get the kids and their valuable hemoglobin safely out of the country as the bombing begins.
Other than the pedestrian plot elements, the film’s greatest weakness is that its monsters are uninteresting. Sure, they’re frightening things charging out of the darkness drooling and growling. But at least zombies have the fascination of the living dead going for them. Creatures without personality, they may as well be the giant rabbits of Night of the Lepus, just a plot device to necessitate the fall of social order. And most of the uninfected cast isn’t much better.
On the other hand, there’s the pure primitive fun of a ripping horror yarn here. As Doyle’s pilot buddy Flynn, Harold Perrineau (Matrix Revolutions) has to spend the whole movie in the cockpit of a helicopter, yet he gets to be part of the film’s most gruesome and crowd-pleasing moment. It’s disappointing that for all its artifice, there’s not a much better movie going on underneath, but the show still provides a rush.
One indispensable thrill factor is the music provided by John Murphy (Miami Vice), whose dirge-like rock theme builds in intensity throughout action sequences, then lingers in the background as a reminder of the lurking menace during quieter scenes.
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Wow. Thanks for the spoiler warning!
Unreal.