AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
28 days later movie12/10/2023 ![]() It is hard not to think of the TV images of Ground Zero or of Baghdad devastated by war when watching 28 Days Later‘s scenes of destruction, all shot on DV. Hence it anticipates, and is contemporaneous with, 9/11. In fact the movie began shooting on September 1, 2001. Not to mention the current SARS epidemic. After all, the rage virus seems as uncontrollable as a biological/chemical attack or a suicide bombing. Nevertheless, the film’s real interest lies in its relationship to contemporary events-or how its plot can fit different political backdrops-and it is tempting to read it in terms of the world’s current state of affairs. In that sense, the film is just one more in a genre that includes Night of the Living Dead, The Thing, Virus-which is not to deny Boyle’s unquestionable talent. The group sleeps amidst debris in deserted buildings, eats canned food gleaned from an abandoned supermarket, fights off the Infected, and worries about having to kill one another in the event that one of them becomes contaminated.Ģ8 Days Later aligns itself with the typical loss-of-individuality plot-once an individual is infected, their humanity gives way to the monstrous. With few exceptions, those who haven’t fled the country after the outbreak are either dead or have become “the infected.” And it is with these survivors-Selena (Naomi Harris), widowed Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns)-that Jim will struggle to stay alive. Finding the hospital abandoned, he walks out and wanders through the empty London streets. The film then cuts to a young man named Jim (Cillian Murphy) waking up from a 28-day coma following a car accident. The epidemic begins with chimps infected with “rage” (as part of research into what we presume is a cure for violent impulses) liberated by animal rights activists. In all, 28 Weeks Later improves upon 'Days' scares, story, characters, and plot to make for one exciting entry in the horror/sci-fi/drama genre.The movie starts with the usual sci-fi tropes: mankind’s experiments go haywire with destructive results. And when you can't see where the terror is coming from in a horror film than you're in for something special. With a horror film, you expect there to be an ample amount of deaths, but the way in which Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directs the deaths is terrifyingly unexpected. Yeah, I'm looking at you every other horror film, it's cool to make them run.īut perhaps the biggest compliment I can give to the film is its utterly unpredictable. ![]() ![]() Adding to that experience are running zombies. That could lead to pacing and character issues, but with a non-stop action-horror, it actually works to the benefit of the experience. That partly because it's only 100 minutes long, but mostly because the film never takes a breath. All of which, do a wonderful job in roles that aren't necessarily flushed out. Not only do you have some nice lead turns from Robert Carlyle and Catherine McCormack, but you have Idris Elba, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, and Imogen Poots before they became famous. I also found the cast to be quite impressive. So, in that way I like what the film tried to do. Usually we either see everything as the apocalypse is going down, or maybe several years later. Implausible probably, but we've never really seen an apocalyptic series that attempts to go back and restart civilization from the same area. Of course, apparently it was a good idea for the military to reoccupy London and start building up a civilization again, even though it was the center of disaster only a half a year earlier. 28 Weeks Later picks up after London is deemed safe and virus free, as the undead have starved to death after the events of the previous film. Similar to how the Cloverfield films are related but not directly tied in, 28 Days Later is a prequel of sorts, but the characters and plot are entirely different. There's something so glorious about seeing the streets of London be a wasteland that only occupies a select few living and undead. But there's something about the '28' series that really hits well for me. The 21st century has been flooded with films and TV shows about zombie apocalypses, so it's difficult for any of them to stand out and feel completely fresh.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |