|
"Zombie Chic is All
the Rage..." |
 |
Directed by Juan Carlos
Fresnadillo - Written by
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring Robert Carlyle,
Rose Byrne, Jeremy
Renner, Harold Perrineau
Catherine McCormack,
Imogen Poots, Idris
Elba, Mackintosh
Muggleton
Distributed by Fox
Atomic -
2007 - 99m - Rated R |
| |
“28 Weeks Later” is the big budget Hollywood sequel to the tiny, DV-shot
“28 Days Later,” arguably one of the finest horror films in recent
memory. Since this is a Hollywood production with a budget that can
now afford armies of monsters and massive CGI explosions, a lot of
what made the original the bizarre masterpiece has been lost.
A lot…but not all. |
| |
If you look through
the big set pieces and wider scope, you can see that this is a
sequel that is truly well-intentioned. It truly tries to honor the
spirit and tone of it’s predecessor, even if it doesn’t always get
everything right
We open with an scene that takes place during the original film (and
arguably the most frightening and effective scene in the film), we
meet Don (Robert Carlyle), who is hiding from the vicious,
cannibalistic “infected” with his wife and other survivors. Things
go awry. Don turns coward and flees, leaving his wife to die a
horrible death. Some times passes. Britain is clear of infection.
Civilians return, including Don’s children, who were in America when
the “rage” virus broke out. Jeremy Renner is a nice sniper. Harold
Perrineau is a helicopter pilot. Rose Byrne is completely wasted as
a military scientist. All seems hunky dory well and good and safe.
But it’s not.
Naturally, things go to hell in a blood soaked hand basket pretty
quickly and soon, in the immortal words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, “there’s
running…and screaming!”
There are a few fundamental things wrong here, and normally I’d
dismiss them because they’re commonplace in horror films. First, you
have the sketchy characters whose one-dimensions couldn’t fill a
plastic baggie. Secondly, you have a handful of “fake scares” to
keep the teenage audience entertained before the plot can get fully
moving. Thirdly, you don’t have a real point to make to the
audience.
Why am I upset about this if I would naturally dismiss these when
reviewing a horror film?
Because “28 Days Later” HAD them. It had characters that I gave a
damn about. It’s scares were genuine and terrifying. It had a lot to
say about humanity and how we are little more than monsters
ourselves.
You can usually separate people into two groups: those who
appreciated the final third of the first film and those who didn’t.
Those who didn’t will like the sequel more than those who did.
Not to say “28 Weeks Later” doesn’t try to be profound. It sure
tries, but rather than being unnerving and morally complex, it’s
like a sledgehammer blow.
“DO…YOU…GET…IT? WE ARE MONSTERS TOO!
I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND OUR POINT!”
But I digress. There is a lot I like here. I like how director Juan
Carlos Fresnadillo keeps the look of the film consistent with Danny
Boyle’s. I liked most of the scares. I loved the use of light and
sound to make suspense often unbearable. I loved the loud, but
pulse-quickening musical score. I loved a certain scene involving a
swarm of infected, a helicopter and a lot of blood. Hell, I even
enjoyed the CGI explosions, even though they really amounted to
eye-candy in the end.
By now you should have a pretty decent idea of what I think about
“28 Weeks Later.” However, I have a little more to say and it
involves SPOILERS from both the
original film and this sequel. So, you have been warned.
SPOILERS
LAST WARNING
YOU MAY REGRET IT
Robert Carlyle dies and he dies early. He then turns into one of the
first infected humans and he becomes the main bad guy who stalks his
children all over London.
I am troubled that they have created a “villain” here, particularly
since the whole point of the virus is that within seconds, you
become a mindless member of a horde, not a stalker who knows his
family from others and actually follows them intelligently.
That aside, they make a mistake in killing Carlyle because he give
the film it’s only interesting character. He’s complex. He let his
wife die. He’s a coward. He’s filled with immense guilt. Rather than
have him face this, though, he is tossed out like one of the random
extras around him.
Late in the film, a Renner’s kind soldier dies while saving the
children from a cloud of deadly gas and soldiers with orders to
shoot. That man should have been Carlyle, not the soldier who the
kids just met. Carlyle should have had the opportunity to redeem
himself, to save his children and to die doing something honorable.
Instead he’s killed, leaving a black hole in the character
department.
Remember that scene in the first one were that single drop of blood
falls into Brendan Gleeson’s eye and we all know what’s about to
happen?
When I saw that scene for the first time, my heart broke. Yeah, it
was shocking, but a character who I loved was about to become a
monster in front of other characters who I love…who also love him.
No scene in “28 Weeks Later,” nothing amidst the shootings, fire
bombings, mass executions and so forth…no scene can come close to
matching it.
And that’s a shame. |
| |
|
© Written by Jacob Hall -
Email
Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard Propes' Comment
n/a
|
