Empty London

Rating: 2/10 (27 May 2007)

OK, so 28 Days Later wasn't wonderful; it was a perfectly watchable zombie flick with some nice touches. On this basis I had no intention of seeing 28 Weeks Later at the cinema -- after all, it was a remake of an average film. The chances were that the new film was going to be exactly that: average.
Let me begin by saying 'average' would have been a blessing. My friend and I decided on 28 Weeks Later because the queues for the new 3rd instalments -- Pirates and Shreck -- were extremely long. All in all, i wish we'd queued.
The film itself lacks two vital components of a decent film; one being plot and the other being dialogue. I've read many of the reviews on here that mention the believability of the film. Would the US army have done what they did? How did those children escape the Isle of Dogs? Who knows. I don't go to the cinema to pick holes in fantastical ideas. No, the film was awful in-spite of its premise.
The beginning, with Robert Carlyle running away from the zombie invaders, is quite cool. There's plenty of action and it's genuinely well paced and interesting. However, once the ex-pats are repatriated to England the plot loses its way. The first problem is the lack of plot. In-fact, it's the same as the last plot with an add-on. Whereas before the virus was the thing everyone was scared of, now the US military, after losing control of the situation, are slaughtering Britons on sight. So that's the plot -- there's no delving into the science of the virus, no character development beyond 'dad loved his children, but is unfortunately a zombie now' and the rag-tag band of survivors who escape the Isle of Dogs are pretty wooden characters. Once they've escaped the Isle of Dogs, the plot is literally 'get to Regents park without being shot by Americans or eaten by zombies'. So, we have a survival road-movie. There are long drawn-out interludes of an Empty London and the film pretty much montages the journey from Greenwich to Regents Park (the route is accurate, by the way -- take it from a Londoner).
When they get to Regents Park, with a minimum of dialogue, you think "well, thank God that's over!" But not quite, the helicopter pilot won't take the Britons with him and re-arranges a pick up at Wembley Stadium. Great. So there's another 20 minutes of their journey to Wembley stadium replete with shouting, screaming, crying, but no talking. At one point they end up in the underground, presumably taking the Jubilee Line to Wembley Park, but that's never quite explained.
And that's it. That's the plot. Virus breaks out, American army loses control and decides to terminate repatriated Brits, go to Regents Park, go to Wembley Stadium. The other problem is the complete lack of dialogue in the film. There's very little talking at all, meaning that one learns very little. Nothing more is uncovered about the virus. The characters are without a history or back-story. There's no discussion about policy or intention on repatriation. Nothing. Just no talking. Instead there are pictures of an empty London.
My final 2 gripes are this: How on earth did the zombies get into the 'holding area'? All the Britons were down there; the zombies were at the door; the camera seemed to whizz around so you didn't have a clue what was going on and, bang! Zombies in the room! I thought they were locked in?? And secondly, the ending was completely unsatisfactory. They escaped to France but then France got the virus. Presumably they're dead after that ordeal. Fantastic! Well, that's it. As a sightseeing tour of London it's a fantastic piece of work. I've never seen the place looking so peaceful. But that's where the fun ends. As an interesting, plot-driven film it's utter trash.