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28 Weeks Survives Itself MOVIE: 28 Weeks Later DIRECTOR: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo CAST: Robert Carlysle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton |
| THE QUICK HIT: |
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Follow-up to 28 Days Later sans director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland (The Beach, Tesseract). Although after six months the rage virus is at last wiped out in London, the discovery of Don’s (Robert Carlysle) presumed dead wife resurrects the virus again, putting his recently returned children in harm’s way along with the entire region. What could have been a disastrous film manages to perform respectably if ultra heavy on the gore/horror. Danny Boyle remained connected with the project as producer and managed some second-unit directing. GRADE: B- |
| THE BIG PICTURE: |
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In 28 Weeks Later viewers get a similar
message to 28 Days Later of how readily big government is willing to
expend individuals to contain a crisis, but where the movie goes wrong
is [SPOILER WARNING] turning the movie’s best actor—Carlysle—into a
frothing zombie too early on! Scarlet (Rose Byrne) and Doyle (Jeremy
Renner) as the army medical officer and army sniper who try to save
Don’s children are strong but unremarkable. The kids, Tammy (Imogen
Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), are appealing yet also not
dynamic enough to carry a film.
What Fresnadillo has made in essence is a really expensive, well-done zombie movie. And there’s nothing comical about these zombies either, or slow-moving. They convert from human to zombie within seconds of contact, they snarl and attack, and they are hungry! Where the pathos and confusion of Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later made the film into almost a quest, 28 Weeks Later has little of the emotional impact and far more of the jump-out-of-your-theater-seat stuff—such as when Doyle surprises his buddy Flynn on watch by attacking him like a zombie. Ha ha! We in the audience are surprised as well. Then he does it again, and we jump again! Good fun, but all knee-jerk reaction with little investment in the characters. Even the serious character flaw of Don exposed early on in the movie is undercapitalized on. In fact, a subplot is introduced when the children may have a rare and valuable blood type, but this idea too is swept under the rug amidst all the carnage. But what carnage it is! The bloodbaths and decapitations via heli blades are superb! The theater boomed and rattled along with onscreen firebombs. It was a good time—just no deeper than that. |
| TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO: |
| The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales doubled for the interior of Wembley Stadium |
| Review by Sha Harrison |