Fun though flawed sequel schlock

Rating: 6/10 (21 June 2011)

28 Days Later was, passé final block aside a near ace slice of post apocalypse horror and something of a sleeper hit, leading inevitably to a sequel. Fortunately for those of us who value some level of artistic integrity, 28 Weeks Later is pretty solid stuff and nicely ballsy, albeit to flawed to really rock out or make much more than a superficial impression. It differentiates itself from the original tale by being one of destruction rather than aftermath, in this one we have a state of order and its spectacular disruption, the horror unfolding in front of us. Regrettably it also differentiates itself with absurd contrivance, the two events unleashing horror both utterly unbelievable in the realistic context in which the film sets itself. It's all the more galling because the opening sequence gives us a bleakly realistic depiction of human frailty, total contrast to the painfully irksome generic screw ups to come. The final moments fall prey to the same problem, though I kinda give them a pass on amusement value. The biggest problem aside from this is comes in the camera work which is in a few key moments of the shaky variety. This kind of fast camera, fast cutting work only tends to be effective when used by directors with a smart feeling for the kinetic and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, though undoubtedly talented (watch Intacto kids), doesn't really have this. He is much better at more traditional means of depicting carnage though, giving us lots of nicely shot shootings and a simply magical scene of helicopter violence that had me near cheering. A decent amount of bloodshed here and it gives the film most of its kick. The rest is provided by its mirror of mass carnage to personal trauma, it is a film given to kicking happy go lucky cliché in the teeth and all the better for it, moreover it does so in a fashion that feels organic and not just a cheesy means of the writers showing off some edge. Acting is reasonable throughout, Robert Carlyle is the standout as a devoted dad, but the lovely Rose Byrne does a decent tough but tender job and Jeremy Renner gives a likable show as a good hearted soldier. There are a couple of kids key to the affair though and neither are up to much, they aren't terrible but I can comfortably say that I wanted both to die in gruesome fashion for their role in the whole debacle, but mostly to give the adults more screen mileage. Lets face it, most child actors are horrendously unsympathetic compared to their adult counterparts and almost always less talented and this is the case here. Everything bowls along pretty nicely though, nothing made me want to eat my laptop in irritation so this one gets a OK score for the good stuff, high 6/10.