28 Weeks Later: Movie Review (2007) by Christopher Smith

For horror buffs, the new Juan Carlos Fresnadillo film, "28 Weeks Later," is the movie to see now. This tense sequel to Danny Boyle's 2003 film, "28 Days Later," opens with a shock of promise and, for the most part, it sustains it.

Somewhere outside London, in a farmhouse sealed against the legions of virulent, blood-hungry zombies carousing for flesh not far beyond its doors, are a gathering of men and women living in near darkness.

They survived the scourge that collapsed much of mainland Britain in the first film and now are awaiting some sign that the rage virus, as it's known, has passed so they can move among the living.

That is, of course, assuming anyone is alive in London and the surrounding area, which this group of frightened folks doesn't know. But when a young boy comes hammering on the farmhouse door, they quickly realize they aren't alone and let him in. Trouble is, the boy was being chased by legions of the undead, and by letting him in, they now join him in being a target.

Let the feasting and the fight for survival begin, with one of the characters, Don (Robert Carlyle), leaving his wife (Catherine McCormack) to fend for herself in the brutal rush of violence that ensues. He flees to a river, nearly is taken down by the tribe, and then, months later, finds himself in London, which is being repopulated with the help of U.S. troops, though presumably Don's wife won't be part of it. He believes she's dead.

For Don, the question now is how to break that news to his children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), who have been living in Spain since the outbreak. For this coward, the easiest way out is to lie, which backfires on him in ways that won't be revealed here, but which gives this movie its satisfying emotional undercurrent.

Driven by Chris Gill's frenetic, quick-cut editing and John Murphy's thrumming score, "28 Weeks Later" is a zombie thriller first, but with a twist--it draws direct parallels to our involvement in Iraq.

Writers Rowan Joffe, E.L. Lavigne, Jesus Olmo and Fresnadillo have, after all, put Americans in charge of another country, with several mistakes made along the way that leave London and its inhabitants in worse shape than before. Not exactly subtle, though the movie isn't out to fully demonize the U.S. It uses the American solider Doyle (Jeremy Renner) as one of the film's heroes--he breaks ranks from slaughtering uninfected civilians by ushering Tammy, Andy and a group of others to safety.

Joining him in that task is Scarlet (Rose Byrne), an American doctor who watches the unrelenting carnage with a weariness that suggests she can't stop what's already been put into motion. Her response is to withdraw into silent acceptance, and what that does to the movie is chilling. It amplifies the screams of the dying and the undead in ways that fill the theater beyond reason.

Grade: B