YARRRGH!
ZOMBIES! No, I know technically they’re ‘infected’,
but a zombie by any other name would still smell as sweet. Or, you know,
eat your face off, whatever. The original 28 Days fitted neatly
into the zombie-movie pantheon, and this big-budget follow-up does not
disappoint - combining the same low-key, human touch with uncompromising
brutality - perhaps made all the more brutal because we care about these
characters. Or because the action is even more vicious, violent and
visceral.
Right from the explosive opening we are at once drawn in and reminded
of the raw action of the original - all screaming and smashing and tearing
and unsettling shaky cam as wild as the infected themselves. Here we
meet Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife, Alice (Catherine McCormack),
taking refuge during the initial outbreak with a few others in a peaceful
country cottage, but as usual it’s not long before ol’ Red-eye
comes knocking. Amidst the ensuing chaos we are also shown that director
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) is more than equipped to
handle the burden of following up this franchise by introducing a powerful
humanistic element, as Don makes the tough but ultimately realistic
decision to leave his wife to her fate and save his own arse.
Around 6 months later (28 weeks, to be precise. See? Not just a clever
title), the last of the infected have died out and the yanks have taken
it upon themselves to start repopulating the now desolate Britain, starting
with the Isle of Dogs. Ah, the illusion of control. Without giving too
much away the infection re-emerges through a rather contrived plot device
and all control is lost, as folk begin biting all around them and spewing
blood and generally making a damn mess. Some indiscriminate sniper fire
and a shitload of firebombing later we follow a small band of escapees
- including the two offspring of our opening couple (Imogen Poots and
the impossibly-monikered Mackintosh Muggleton), a female military doctor
(Rose Byrne), and led by a rogue soldier with a soul (Jeremy Renner)
- as they make their way across the barren city streets to try to find
safety, chased not only by a horde of slavering bankers but also a US
force hell bent on eradicating all remnants of their colonial cock-up.
As mentioned before, the real triumph of this film is the helmsmanship
of director Fresnadillo. What could have easily become a gore-filled
farce of Hollywood pomp and circumstance has been handled with aplomb,
keeping the grounded sensibility of the original while raising the stakes
on the spectacle side of things. From the wide aerial shots which show
a side of London unseen from all but an outside perspective to the up-close
and highly personal shots from body-mounted cameras in the midst of
the chaotic outbreak, 28 Weeks Later is an adrenaline rush
that will move you from the edge of your seat to the back, recoiling
in horror and hiding behind your own knees from the taut, uncompromising
spectacle on show. Plot holes aside (The final safe zone is the new
Wembley. I mean, Wembley? They couldn’t finish it within a time
frame of several years, but somehow in the midst of an apocalyptic pandemic
it gets polished off in record time?), this movie is, in two simple
words, bloody brilliant.
by Phil Dixon
28
Weeks Later
cast and director interview
feature
See clips and trailers
Official
Sites
ragevirus.co.uk
28weekslatermovie.co.uk
myspace.com/ragevirus
