Painful to watch

Rating: 1/10 (5 May 2011)

"28 Weeks Later," is a major disappointment. I liked the first film. This sequel is depressing, repetitive and pointless, and not scary at all. Rather than take the time to create compelling characters or a compelling story, this film just tries to run on fear. And with excessively jerky hand-held camera-work and fast editing you frequently lose track of the action and what's happening. Near misses, last-second saves, and people dying in distinctly ugly ways, is about all that can be considered story-wise. Every time the raging Londoners encounter their future victims, the soundtrack gets kicked up to eleven, not just with loud music and screaming, but with ear-shattering sounds like scraping metal, feedback, and anything else the sound team could find to startle you into submission. It is a thoroughly unpleasant, depressing, pointless, irritating and non-entertaining movie. Most post-apocalyptic thrillers make you wonder if humanity will survive before the film ends. This one makes you wonder how much of your own humanity will be lost before then.