28 Weeks Later

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2007)

28 Weeks Later is a sequel to the film 28 Days Later and follows the previous film several weeks later (as the title suggests). The film takes place in Britain where the army has helped keep an area of town safe where the survivors can stay and everything seems fine until the virus that infected everyone from the first film is back infecting people and a young brother and sister along with a woman from the army are on the run from the infected and trying to make it to a place where they will be safe, but unfortunately for them the virus is spreading quickly and they don't have long to run and hide from the carriers of the disease. Back in 2003 before I saw 28 Days Later, I found the screenplay at my local bookstore, so I sat down and read it. This also lead to a fellow book enthusiast sitting beside me telling me for some reason that he believes that zombies actually exist, but that is another story. Anyways, I was quite impressed with the screenplay of 28 Days Later, so I saw it in theatres shortly after and was impressed by the film as well. When, I heard that a sequel was being made and the original writer and director were only involved as producers, I wasn't so sure if it would turn out well or not, but after having just seen the film I must conclude that this new director and writer pulled it off, and quite well I may add. The film took a little different approach then the first installment whereas this version has a lot more action and things happening where the first film had a more slow approach and built up the action and suspense as it went along, but this film started with non stop action right within the first ten minutes. This isn't to say that the first film's approach was bad in anyway because it wasn't, it was just kind of nice to see it done in a different kind of style and pace. The non stop action and the very fast editing worked for me and kept me quite entertained and the movie held it's own while remaining stylish and delivering thrills and gore as well. There were also more dramatic scenes in the film and times where there was no action and things were being explained and it got to show what was going on with the city and the characters a little bit, but those scenes were well done and worked as well. The manic energy and pace of this film captured my attention and interest right from the start and with it's stylish direction, good editing and just fast action and happenings I really had a good time with this film. The horror scenes worked well as did the action scenes and from a technical point the film was well made and as a rule any horror fan can tell you that most sequels do not work (and this does not just apply to the horror category either), but this film worked on every level from story to direction to just having a good time and like I mentioned earlier I liked how it had some of the same qualities I liked about the first film, but I also liked how it took some new approaches as well. This is one of the better horror films and sequels of recent years and if done properly I could see how a third installment in the series could work as well, but for now this one is better than okay and for a film of this kind it really is very good.