more of the same good stuff

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2007)

I enjoyed "28 Weeks Later," even though it felt exactly like "28 Days Later," only with more splattering blood.
This is, indeed, an action sequel to a thoughtful little horror movie. For me, the original version was better. "28 Days Later" had stronger characters and a certain freshness to it (even though it was obviously based on older zombie movies). This sequel feels like a retread with extra action tossed in. It's still good - the apocalyptic imagery is wonderful - but it's like good leftovers. You already had the same thing last night.
I shouldn't be too critical, though. The filmmakers saw they had a good formula with the first movie, and didn't change it. Better that than changing the formula into something dumb, right?
It helps that this movie has a strong cast. Robert Carlyle is good, as usual, and his role takes a rather interesting twist mid-movie. Jeremy Renner makes for a likable and quite unexpected hero. And, as a bonus for genre fans, Idris "Ultraviolet" Elba has a decent role as a military commander. Perhaps the only casting stretch is Rose Byrne; she's beautiful, and a good actress, but she looks too young to be the chief medical officer for a program to rehabilitate zombie England!
Another minor downside is that the film strains credibility on occasion; for example, the manner in which the infection breaks out again is vaguely outrageous. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just moan in general that the army does a really lousy job of security in this film. Implausibly lousy, in fact.
Yet this is still reasonably intelligent, good horror. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission - it's the stuff that nightmares are made on.