28 Weeks Later

[lordofdance]

It's the end of the world as we know it. Or not.

Can a movie be looked upon favorably not so much for how substantial it is on its own, but for what it makes the viewer think about after seeing it? This ferocious little burst of nihilism, of blood-splattered hopelessness, called 28 Weeks Later could be seen merely as a pointless, extended music video. Or, perhaps, it could be viewed as a stark, pitiless vision of the horror at the very core of survival. Just in the first ten minutes of 28 Weeks Later I experienced both ADD/MTV-style editing that has become rampant in movies and the deep-down, primitive "Holy shit, I'm gonna die!" panic one must feel when there's only you and nature at its most unsympathetic hunting your ass down with intent to bring about ice cold death.

There is but a slight taste of civilized behavior during the beginning few moments of 28 Weeks Later that is mercilessly pulverised underfoot by the onslaught of rampaging, spastic murderers. When the infected arrived, the movie robbed me of all sense of decency. It robbed me of heroic pretentions. One moment I see that guy from Trainspotting kissing his wife, briefly pretending that life was still normal and all of England hadn't been overrun by maniacs with less humanity than a pack of rabid, starving wolves. They fuck that daydream up real quick, however. Pure chaos ensued so swiftly and relentlessly that I felt like I was hooked up to a fight or flight simulation device and adrenaline was being pumped into my veins full blast. I felt like I was the Trainspotting guy hauling ass like there was no tomorrow. Maybe it's just me, but I can't think of another movie that threw me into the thick of pure survival terror more effectively than 28 Weeks Later did during its opening scenes. The Trainspotting guy was running for his dear life, even leaving his wife who he was just tenderly kissing minutes before to be ripped to shreds. For a split second I thought, "Coward!", but then I saw the mob of blood-thirsty plague fiends closing in from every direction and all I could think of was, "Run, you son of a bitch!" MTV bullshit or not, this stuff worked.

Oh, yeah, and then there's the rest of the movie... Screw it. I'm going to buy this movie when it comes out and just watch the the beginning repeatedly to see if my heart stops. Everything that comes afterwards doesn't even come close.

Well, maybe there was one other part that almost did the job. For those of you that have seen Event Horizon, you may recall the scene toward the end when they view what happened to the crew of the vessel on the ship's video log. Only a few moments of footage are shown but it's some pretty disturbing, gruesome stuff. At one point during 28 Weeks Later, I really thought there was going to a larger scale, longer version of that nasty Event Horizon scene. It comes really close to delivering an orgy of butchery, and I did seriously feel a powerful sense of dread. Hell was unleashed, I will admit. Not as much as I wanted, but it's the closest I've seen to what Event Horizon was going for.

It's too bad that 28 Weeks Later doesn't mange to deliver the same gut-wrenching effect throughout. The ending reminded me way too much of Zombie, albeit in fast motion.

*** out of *****

I have to say that this movie hit me harder and faster overall than the original. I might be a minority, but I like it more.

[malicious32dll]

I really liked it... I really didn't mind the crazy camerawork at all, in fact I really liked it and felt that quite a bit of some of the harder hitting violence would be lost without it. I especially like the part at the beginning, where after they are both in that bedroom looking for that little kid, where that camera just goes at that extreme angle focusing on the infected guy just kicking and pounding with both arms flailing on that bedroom door... I thought that was insane. Anyways, yea, the shots of deserted London were amazing and just how well they portrayed the clean up efforts was just awesome. For the most part I really grew to like the main characters (the kid and his older sister). I kinda thought the helicopter scene was a little "out there" in a movie that was striving for a kinda thick sense of reality but overall I thought it turned out alright. In my opinion this one and the first are neck and neck in terms of quality. Despite what most people seem to be saying about it. I really don't get too much what you were talking about with the whole schpeil on "rampant mtv like camerawork" .... man..... whut? Anyways, I guess I'm not sophisticated enough. *cough* I don't have cable *cough* ... Oh, by the way, If you want to see quite possibly the most mentally deficient critic I've ever seen, click on this link: bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/ Come on.... is it just me... or did I seriously hear that guy say... "You just have to ask yourself, why are these actors doing what they're doing?"

[dontdigonswine]

Yeah, that guy is an idiot. How are the political points "flat-footed"? How is it a bad thing when the ultimate villain in the movie is the government? It makes it even more interesting and more original. Those two points are what made 28 Days Later a great movie for me. And I did disagree with what Roeper said about zombies being worst villains. They are the best horror creature-villains because of the all too creepy fact that they somehow escaped death and become not necessarily monsters, but emotionless, primal people. Zombies are still people. (Even though the 28 ... Later series does not have any zombies in the first place). And I agree with malicious32dll about the camerawork. It makes it more realistic, therefore scarier. And also, the music in both films. Good stuff. I think 28 Weeks Later is growin on me a bit, and I might just boost it up a point