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28
Weeks Later
(2007)
It's rare that a sequel comes along which matches
or exceeds the quality of its predecessor, but 28 Weeks
Later is
one of the few which succeeds at this daunting task.
Though it's a follow-up to one of the most original and frightening
zombie movies in the long history of the genre, Danny Boyle's
2002 hit 28 Days Later, Weeks distinguishes
itself from the original while still pushing genre and cinematic
boundaries. It's such a well-made film, and isn't a
simple continuation of the characters and story of the first
movie, that it stands firmly on its own and in some ways bests
Boyle's picture.
Six months after the Rage virus wiped out the population of Great Britain by turning the population into blood-thirsty zombies, the American military has quarantined a small section of London, and guard it closely as they begin the repopulation of the island. Don (Robert Carlyle), one of the few survivors of the original outbreak, welcomes home his children Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), the only children in the country, after having watched their mother (Catherine McCormack) fall victim to the ravenous hordes months prior. Despite all the precautions, the virus once again attacks the population, and the safety of the children and the hope of a possible cure falls into the hands of Scarlet (Rose Byrne), the army's chief medical officer and one soldier out to save himself (Jeremy Renner).
Like most sequels, 28 Weeks Later features more adrenaline than the previous film, and higher stakes. In this case, it also contains a stronger emotional core since it focuses so tightly on one family, which has been separated for months of crisis. Add this to the larger population and heightened presence of the military and you've got the promise of a great film on every level. The formula for an all-out massacre of both civilians and zombies is perfectly established and exquisitely executed and, at the same time, we are drawn as an audience into the story by the personal story of more than just survival.
If you're expecting all blood and guts and zombie canabalism, you might be disappointed (though there's still plenty of both to be had). The film does an amazing job of replacing the typical horror monsters with the more elusive yet more real enemy of an occupying military. In the same manner that last year's Children of Men was really a war movie masqerading as a sci-fi flick, 28 Weeks Later is the same, under the guise of a horror film. It becomes clear quite early in the film that the true force to fear in the movie isn't the zombies, but the military who will go to any lengths to prevent the virus from escaping into the general population again. While it is subtle, there's a clear statement here about martial law which reflects directly on the current situation in Iraq, complete with its own Green Zone.
It's easy to ignore these politics, though, if you're primarily interested in watching the slow and weak get their flesh ripped from their screaming bodies. Without any big-name stars (aside from Carlyle, whose part is much smaller than anticipated) the film possesses the same believablity as 28 Days because the audience isn't distracted by the actors. The same minimalism present in the original can be seen here, but in a slightly different way. Thought I was skeptical about Boyle's absence in the director's chair in the second installment of the series, I must say that his successor, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, succeeded in filling his large shoes.
Certainly the clichéd caveat for any horror film applies to this movie. The squamish, small children, and anyone with bladder control issues should steer clear of the film, but if you loved the first one as much as I did or hate zombies as much as my brother does (they're all he talks about), 28 Weeks Later is the must-see horror-fest of the summer. Be prepared to have your standards for intelligent and thought-provoking film-making to be raised. This is a film that will take you much longer than 28 weeks to get over.
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2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Juan
Carlos Fresnadillo
Writer: Rowan
Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo & Jesús Olmo
Starring: Robert
Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton, Jeremy
Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack
Distributor: Fox
Atomic Pictures
Runtime: 99
min
Rating: R
Release Date: May
11, 2007
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