'28 Weeks Later' review

Rating: ** out of ****

(*NOTE* - I am fully aware that in this franchise, the ‘infected’ are not technically zombies. Whatever. For argument’s sake, we will call them zombies, as beyond that technicality they share many zombie traits.)

‘28 Weeks Later’ may be the horror film with the most political commentary since George Romero’s ‘Dawn of The Dead’. Though its messages are obvious and thinly textured to those of a Romero classic, I was glad they were there. We normally are not given those privileges with the average zombie film. The film gets an ‘A’ for effort.

‘28 Weeks Later’ is the sequel to the 2002 modern day classic ‘28 Days Later’. Danny Boyle reinvented the zombie film with his low budget, intimate account of a zombie plague infecting Britain. Perhaps Boyle’s film worked so well because it had a lower budget than most horror films, and so they relied on the excellent script by Alex Garland. It featured complex ideas on wartimes and survivalism, appealing relationships and true jump-out-of-your-seat scares, producing one of the scariest modern horror films. This time around, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo takes the reigns as director with Boyle serving as an executive producer. Fresnadillo and Boyle approach similar material very differently. One with substance and style, the other more style. It made me wonder of what ‘Aliens’ would have been like had it been directed by Tony Scott.

‘28 Weeks Later’ picks up, well, 28 weeks after the Rage virus has spread throughout the city of London. The city has been quarantined, all those infected either starved to death or wiped-out by American military forces. The US army declares that the war against infection has been won, and that the reconstruction of the country can begin. In the first wave of returning refugees, a family is reunited – the father (Robert Carlyle) left his wife to die in the outbreak and is now coming together with his children (Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton), who we assume were evacuated before things became really bad. Why the father and his wife did not evacuate with them is never really made clear. The children must be secret agents though, because they are able to sneak past American forces and travel to their old home in the danger zone. Here they find a survivor who comes back into the safe zone with them. The survivor does not show signs of infection. Later, it is discovered that the survivor is infected, though shows no signs. The theory is presented that their blood may contain natural biological immunities to the plague. One thing leads to another and the virus is once again spreading like wild fire through the safe zone. A race against time ensues between the US government’s alarmist plans to ‘shoot them all and let God sort them out’, and a military nurse (Rose Byrne) who wants to experiment with the immune blood to find a cure.

Where the first film succeeded so well with its small scale, well-developed relationships and choice scares, the sequel kicks it into overdrive with more blood, more jumps, and more action - with cameras so shaky I honestly could not tell what was happening until the moment was over. That being said, that same technique is also useful in selling some of the films freakiest moments. ‘28 Weeks Later’ is a political parabol, exemplifying everything from the war in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina – though it never decides what point it’s trying to make with its analogies. It begins well enough with a man who seems somewhat passive about leaving his wife to die and lying to his children about it. This would have been a great story to develop further. Unfortunately, the film leaves this point behind when the chasing and killing begins. The characters are left underdeveloped and the film has an ending that feels vague, with no hope of a cure - even with the potential of one. It also can’t seem to make up its mind on how smart or strong these zombies really are. Some are killed by being shot once or twice - as they are still human after all. Others seem near invincible. Most of the zombies are pure rage and instinct. Hunting humans and feeding is all they know. Yet one such zombie seems to be smart enough to evade all authorities and traps, popping up whenever the plot needs him to. Some fans of the film suggest that the strain of the disease is evolved and more potent this time around, yet the film puts forth no theories or points to back up such a claim.

Where the first film was compelling and thoughtful with very scary moments, this film is a video game. Every scene and new situation feels like a level of a game, ranging from streets and cemeteries to fields and subways. The infected are merely targets. There is even a scene shown in the first person, and though it is the most suspenseful of the film, I bet some people in the theater were reaching for joysticks that were not there. If only ‘Doom’ could have been this much fun!

‘28 Weeks Later’ cannot hold a flame to its predecessor. I bet many die-hard fans will be calling for Danny Boyle to come back. If you leave your brain at the door while picking up your vomit bag, you can enjoy its aesthetic qualities and political undertones - all the while cringing pleasurably. I’m sure many zombie-lovers will eat it up with a blood-dripping spoon. One has to wonder what the fate of ‘28 Months Later’ will hold. ‘28 Years’? ‘28 Decades’? Who knows?