28 Weeks Later

Went to see 28 Weeks Later last night and was both surprised and relieved to find that it is actually a decent film. Unlike the relative disappointment of one of the summer's other big sequels, 28 Weeks Later is very much in the style of the film that spawned it but also takes the time to tell a decent story as well.

Oh, and spoilers ahead.

It starts well - with a reserved and quiet opening conversation that neatly sums up the scenario of the original movie but also sets up the atmosphere of the film. It is aspiring to be thoughtful as well as horrific and nerve racking.

Then the Infected* attack, and there is a pulse pounding scene where Robert Carlyle's character just manages escape against all the odds. The fact that, from the initial 5 or 6 characters we are introduced to, only one appears to survive shows just how hopeless it all appears in the face of an Infected attack.

However then the tone of the film changes again, and the action moves to the Isle of Dogs, where - under the watchful eyes of a US led NATO force, there are attempts to rebuild the UK. These scenes remind me of the protagnosists in the shopping mall in the original Dawn of the Dead - trying to get on with live in an artifical and conditionally safe environment, and trying to ignore the devastation all around. And the way these scenes are filmed is very interesting - the use of CCTV and sniper scopes stress the cost of their freedom from the Infected: they are constantly under the watchful and intrusive eyes of others.

Then Robert Carlyle's apparently dead wife returns - causing both an awkward moment for Carlyle character and the revelation that whilst she is infected and carrying the Rage virus, but not displaying any of the symptoms. But as you might expect, things go badly wrong, and within minutes her husband is infected and she is dead in one of the most unpleasant silver screen killing scenes I can remember in a long time.

And from there we see the increasingly desperate - and murderous - attempts of the NATO forces to contain the latest outbreak. Several people do escape, but their route out is an ordeal. Included in the survivors are the Carlyle characters son and daughter, and the impetus is to get them out of the city and away from the Infected to discover the cause of their family immunity from the virus. But their trek across London is nightmarish owing to both attacks from the Infected and also the US military. And this section of the film also has my favourite scene - when a helicopter takes on the Infected.

Needless to say that the two kids do make it - but the film has the intelligence to question whether their escape is a good thing and suggests that the draconian and lethal actions of the NATO forces were actually necessary and right to protect the rest of the the planet from the virus. It is a thoughtful and intelligent film that dares to suggest that mass murder might be a better option that the *good guys winning*, and the downbeat ending is entirely befitting of the apocalpytic tone and nature of the rest of the film.

So to paraphrase the tag lines from the Austin Powers sequels - "if you see one sequel this summer, see Spiderman 3**. However if you see two, see 28 Weeks Later as well."

*And they are not, strictly speaking, zombies as they are not dead. They are people infected with the Rage virus so in effect are just very ill human beings. It is actually key to both films that the Infected are not dead - after all, it is only the Infected starving to death that stops the initial carnage caused by the outbreak of the Rage virus.

**Mainly because it is visually stunning and will come across far better on the big screen than it ever will on DVD.