A Zombie Movie With Political And Social Commentary

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2008)

28 Weeks Later is the zombie thriller sequel to 28 Days Later. 28 Days Later set groundbreaking precedent by being a major horror film to tackle such deeply profound moral and social issues, such as sexism and rape.
28 Weeks Later works to continue on the same track as its predecessor, taking on issues of political global influence and the moral and ethical issues of murder. Taking place 28 weeks after the INITIAL OUTBREAK, Great Britain is thought to be clean of the virus. This is due to the discovery that the infected cannot survive without continually "infecting" others or feeding. By this point, an American led NATO task force has already entered London and set up for reconstruction. The story centrally follows two new characters, Andy and Tammy, who are siblings. After returning to London, reinfection inevitably occurs with a seemingly new strain of the 'rage virus' decimating those who British who wished to return home.
My opinion: keep your social commentaries out of zombie movies and enough with the cliffhangers. Trying to make a zombie horror flick with pseudo-intellectual themes is the worst idea ever and creates a new subculture of pretentious movie goers, who think they have learned or felt something profound FROM A ZOMBIE MOVIE. We go to movie to be first and foremost entertained, not to choke down someone else's philosophical viewpoints.
Though this movie's social commentaries are nowhere near as nauseating or infuriating as the first one, this movie's failures follow suit to the first film in another way. It ends on a major cliffhangers, like not telling us what happens to Andy and Selena, whether Andy's DNA holds a key to a vaccine, or how the new outbreak will affect the world (i.e. implications that the infection has escaped Great Britain, somehow). Though cliffhangers can occasionally be irritating in a fun or exciting way, this film's ending is not.
I gave this movie a 5 because of the entertaining graphics, camera angles, and new conceptualizations on what it means to be a 'zombie.' However this movie FAILS in making sense logically (just like the first movie) and makes me fearful from all the unanswered questions and cliffhangers that a third and equally asinine film may be in the works (28 Months Later, gag).