28 Weeks Later: 28 Dollars Later
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007
(Guest Review by Cam DiNunzio - Editor's Note: I am so determined that this film will be terrible that I actually bitterly disagreed with this review to poor Cam, WITHOUT HAVING ACTUALLY SEEN THE FILM, because that is how strongly I feel that 28 Days Later should not have been cheapened with a big budget sequel. But really I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just like stomping and shouting, so maybe you're better off trusting Cam on this one. - SH)
Never mind that I would have paid admission solely to see the trailer for Transformers, but even as I sit here writing this spontaneous guest review for the Review, I cannot believe that I voluntarily subjected myself to the relentless stress-inducing torture that the latest 28 Increments Later installment inflicted on my already gnarled and knotted neck muscles. My friend Marty and I left the theater feeling like we’d just spent the last ninety minutes trying to pull our mothers from a plane wreck, only to have failed.
28 Weeks Later shows us what happens next, once the original zombie-spawning “rage virus” that broke out (the name of which I somehow missed in the first movie, and now explains why these zombies sprint unnervingly at you*) in England is contained, and NATO forces have stabilized the island of Britain. Children sent to refugee camps during the outbreak are slowly being reunited with their parents, and the reconstruction of the country is underway. Through flashbacks we learn how Don (Robert Carlyle - who reportedly turned down a part in the original, not that I heard any of my female friends complaining about the subsequent hiring of Cillian Murphy) was able to escape the original infestation and start his new life in the disinfected green zone, where he’s been given a title and unlimited access to all areas of the compound - something that the zombies eventually manage to use to their advantage.**
Other than Carlyle, one of the few other recognizable faces in this mostly UK/undead*** cast is that of Harold Parrineau as military chopper pilot whose character is almost as thwarted and testy as his portrayal of Michael in Lost. I took comfort, however, in knowing that regardless of any parallels that may exist between the Lost island and the desolate, unpopulated city he now patrols, at least in London he probably had access to a proper bathroom.
I really must say that this film succeeded on all fronts, and
one of the many reasons writer Rowan Joffe’s story is worth cowering through, in spite of the bludgeoning, running, deafening screams, more running, and dizzying camerawork, is the relative complexity of his characters. Not just relative to the mindless infected, but also to those that have faced them in other films, too! There's a father who may or may not have left his wife to die and who is faced with explaining to his repatriated kids what
really happened. There are military agents who show conscientiousness behind the crosshairs. There are even those infected who seem to grasp the concept of revenge. It’s depth of character in a film full of killing machines, and that’s kinda rare.****
What’s also amazing is how director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo tweaks the genre-familiar patterns of tension and release, replacing them with tension, then more tension, then quickening the pace. Don’t believe me? Sit through six minutes of utter blackness in a subway tunnel littered with bloodied corpses and even hearing your Rihanna***** ringtone could give you a heart attack.
If there is any fault to be found, it is the absence of a main character. The focus is at first on the father, shifting eventually to the children, then back to the father,jumping to an Army sniper, and then back again to the kids. As briskly as the story moves, and as liberating as this focus-shift-frenzy might be for the director, there still tend to be moments where I’m not sure who to look to for reassurance that everything is going to be OK. Then again, after witnessing the virus's truly gruesome effects, I'm really not all that sure I would have taken anyone's word for it anyway.
*[Editor's Note: I will probably never see this movie for this reason. Regular zombies are bad enough, and I seriously have an automatic reflex to panic and think "OMG ZOMBIE!" whenever I see a drunk person stumbling around, they are that scary to me. The idea of a running zombie is almost too much to handle.]
**[Editor's Note again: OK, seriously, zombies that run and plot and use things to their advantage? Are they still zombies in that case? I am never sleeping again.]
***[Obnoxious Note: Let's call a spade a spade, here. They're not undead, they're diseased.]
****[I'm sorry, Maverick and Goose. I am so so sorry. His words, not mine!]
*****[I don't know who or what Rihanna is.]
Posted in Horror
