1 Weak Sequel Later

Rating: 5/10 (11 May 2007)

28 Weeks Later sits comfortably in the unnecessary sequel camp. The first movie was good, a self contained story that had run its course and did not require a follow up. Things had come to their natural conclusion in terms of the rage virus dying out etc. and there was no need for a follow up. That said I could see some potential for a sequel just in terms of it being interesting in seeing what would happen next. How would the country be rebuilt? What steps would be taken toward containment? In what ways could the virus and the infected have survived and how would it be dealt with in this different scenario? 28 Weeks later deals with these questions and it doesn't deal with all of them too badly. The way in which the rage virus survives was quite neatly done. However, it is in a lot of respects a really, really dumb movie.
The biggest problem with 28 Weeks is the dumb way in which the military deal with the situation. There are staggering holes in their security system, which are just unbelievable. One dude, who is effectively a caretaker as it is pointed out by another character in the movie, has key card access to the highest quarantine section of the base? This same quarantine area, which contains the one individual who is infected with the virus, is not even guarded or under surveillance. This seems especially stupid after the movie has made a point of how tight and invasive the military presence is at this point. They're willing send a few squads of soldiers and helicopters after two kids who wander out of the contained zone but not bother with any real security precautions to guard the one potential remaining source of the virus? The plan after the virus has broken out is even stupider. If they wanted the virus to spread as quickly as possible amongst as large a group as possible they could not have done a better job than they did by shoving everyone on the island into one big confined space and then not securing the entries and exits so that one of the infected can get in. Despite the fact the base was put on an island, presumably for containment capacity, the island is not actually contained all that well, with numerous ways onto the mainland, which, strangely enough, are not properly secured or guarded even when the outbreak starts. Wouldn't it have been the obvious thing to do, to have sealed off the exits off the isle when were first setting up the safe zone or in the case of an outbreak, even if the personnel couldn't be spared, which is in itself unbelievable, to rig them with high explosives which could set off at the first sign of trouble? Did anybody making this movie think for a few seconds about creating a believable scenario or applying any common sense? Maybe the makers were too caught up with introducing a simplistic military force is bad theme. I hadn't even consider any Iraq analogies until I saw them mentioned online, and quite frankly if such analogies were intended, and I'm not sure they were, they would make the movie even dumber given the disparities between the situations. Obviously the film would have been quite boring if the threat could have been contained so easily but the makers could easily have come with some more plausible, less contrived ways to have brought about a continuation of the story? It would just have required a little more thought and effort on their part and the movie could still have contained all the scenes of carnage and anarchy that one could wish for.
All is not terrible, though. The scenes of the outbreak and the military's brutal containment are nightmarish and effective as are quite a few of the chase scenes. The one at the start, with Robbie Carlyle being chased across the open field was quite well done. The movie does wallow in the gore and nastiness a bit too much. There were a few scenes where the violence was lingered on a little too long- a cheap and easy way to make the movie seem more 'intense' or 'hardcore' I guess. Though one the whole, the brutal, kinetic style of film making worked although and I could have done with a few less shaky-cam moments.
Character and acting wise things were okay but not great. None of the characters really stood out, except for the Carlyle character, who had an interesting back-story and personal conflicts, although they could have used the character more than they did. The acting was competent all across the board, even the children weren't particularly annoying- a frequent problem for these movies is irritating and shrill child actors. Though they should have been bitch-slapped for breaking quarantine like they did.
There were other bits and pieces that I liked. The storyline about the children's immunity to the virus and the possibility of the creation of the vaccine was an interesting introduction to the storyline and it lead to a somewhat amusingly ironic ending. The scene with the helicopter slicing up the infected was absolutely ridiculous and I loved it, even if it did seem out of tone with the rest of the movie and was incredibly dumb. Though scenes like this and the one with the airtight gas secure minivan don't make the movie seem particularly intelligent. Not much of it does.