Danny Boyle's 2002 28 DAYS LATER was a hardcore revamp of the zombie genre, viscerally brought to life in a star making turn by Cillian Murphy. Produced by Boyle, the sequel is under the leadership of new filmmakers. Writer/director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo made his English debut on the film, which was co-written by Rowan Joffe, Jesus Olmo and E.L. Lavigne. It's a tale of two stories; the first half is filled with dark irony, while the second half is a chase flick copying what George Romero did in THE CRAZIES.
The story begins where the first film begins, but following new characters. Donald and Alice Harris (Robert Carlyle, TRAINSPOTTING & Catherine McCormack, DANGEROUS BEAUTY) are holed up in a cottage in England, hiding from an outbreak that turns humans into crazed flesh-eaters. But when the zombies strike, wrong choices are made. In a montage, the film lays out what has transpired for the past 28 weeks since this event. The population of England has died off. U.S. led NATO forces have taken over the country. Survivors have been rounded up into a single section in London and refugees have started to be reintegrated into the military occupied U.K. Major Scarlet (Rose Byrne, WICKER PARK) is the chief medical officer, who worries that though they haven't seen an infected person in two months that the disease might come back. Gen. Stone (Idris Elba, AMERICAN GANGSTER) is sure the soldiers can handle another outbreak if it comes. Sgt. Doyle (Jeremy Renner, DAHMER) and helicopter pilot Flynn (Harold Perrineau, ROMEO + JULIET) find their patrols of virtually dead city quite boring. However, when a new outbreak does come, chaos quickly takes over and it seems that the Harris' children Andy and Tammy (Mackintosh Muggleton, film debut & Imogen Poots, V FOR VENDETTA) might be the key to saving humanity.
The story of the relationship between Donald and Alice has dark moral twists to it, which I liked. But it is abandoned in favor of the stories of the underdeveloped children and their military saviors. There seems to be distinctly two parts to the film. Switching gears midstream isn't always a bad move — look at PSYCHO or THE CRYING GAME — but the second half has to be more interesting than the first. The second half of 28 WEEKS LATER isn't bad, but loses the promise of the first half. I would have liked to see Donald and Alice's story expanded on. Likewise, I would have liked to see more development of the kids, who ultimately become the main characters. Intrinsically we like them because they are kids in danger, but they are more cogs of the plot than characters. Additionally, the actions of the U.S. military are so similar to Romero's THE CRAZIES that it was distracting. Even those who haven't see THE CRAZIES will find the military's moves a bit hard to swallow anyway.
That being said, the beginning is strong enough to recommend the film just for it alone. Additionally, Byrne and Renner bring heart to their roles and make us care. Even though the second half is weaker than the first half, the scariest moment comes close to the end when the survivors need to venture into the pitch-black tube tunnels with only the night vision sight on one rifle to guide them. The film leaves room open for a "28 months later" installment. If the studio does it right, they would take the character development and pacing of the first film, combine it with the moral quandaries of the beginning of the second film and give us one impressive zombie flick.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
