Decrescendo

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2009)

The first fifteen minutes of 28 Weeks Later are probably the best fifteen minutes in the history of cinema. The Russian Roulette scene in The Deer Hunter? Forget it. The final assassinations in The Godfather? Not a chance. Characterization is almost instantaneous. You immediately know who Don is, what he's like, and what situation he's in. You know his wife, Alice, is actually the rock in the relationship, and that her and Don are very close. You realise that the girl's starting to lose it, and that the young Asian guy is a bit selfish and egocentric. You can feel the calmness which emanates from the old couple -- they've been through a World War, huge unemployment, numerous terrorist attacks; they can make it through this, no problem. And then all their worlds explode; I won't go into details, but those of you who have watched it will know what I'm talking about. And then, about twenty minutes into the film, the jumbo jet of brilliance encounters technical difficulties, and nosedives. The story focuses on two obnoxious middle class kids, portrayed by two obnoxious lower class actors, Don dies and everyone legs it, screaming. The joke is, they're really running from the US soldiers. Yeah, sure, great parallels with Iraq, but who gives a crap about allegories? This is a post-apocalyptic zombie film. You don't even see any infected (apart from Don) in the latter half of the film. Out of the original group of seven, four are killed by soldiers, and two survive. That means only one is killed by infected -- what's all that about? Fortunately, the final '28 days later sequence' rescues the film from mediocrity, and, when combined with the incredible opening section, the film achieves 7/10.