Mom's mad at dad again!

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2007)

I never really understood why "28 Days Later" caused such a ripple in the horror genre back in '03--many saw some sort of masterpiece, while I just saw yet another movie piggybacking on the zombie mythos created by George Romero (some scenes were blatant steals from his "Living Dead" series); had it been directed by anyone besides the guy who scored accolades for "Trainspotting," it probably would have been recognized as such. "28 Weeks Later" is slightly better than its predecessor (no difficult feat), and even contains an interesting (at times ironic) thematic arc that has some things to say about familial unity; too bad the characters are of the one-dimensional variety and the plot plays out like a simplified cross between "Dawn of the Dead" (the remake, natch) and "Children of Men." While director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo keeps the film moving at a rapid clip, he can't seem to reconcile the main story of a family's joy and grief against the overwhelming urge to shoot every scene in overblown, ersatz-epic fashion (for the love of Pete, ENOUGH with the shaky-hand-held "Saving Private Ryan"-style shots!); "28 Days" may have suffered from sluggish pacing and too many preachy monologues, but "28 Weeks" rips along in a seemingly endless string of jerky cuts that are more frustrating than exciting (what's there to be excited about when we can't tell what the hell's going on, or where it's happening?). The effects scenes are a mix of CG trickery that paradoxically come off as fake and realistic and always overblown (the firebombing of Britain in particular looks like a screen shot from a PS3 game). Despite this, there is an occasional flash of innovation (a creepy trek down a pitch-dark escalator lit by a gunsight's night vision), and the actors (including a criminally underused Robert Carlyle) are serviceable in their thinly-written roles. Make no mistake--"28 Weeks Later" is an even pulpier ride than its parent, but worth a gander if you set your expectations really low; it's so fast-paced that it passes rather painlessly, but there's nothing very endearing about it.