A great sequel, on a par with the original

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2007)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
The virus that was unleashed in the first film has now wiped out virtually all of London and NATO send in US troops to quarantine the deserted city, keeping the marauding zombies under control and ensuring calm and order amongst the people. Don (Robert Carlyle) has retreated from his hide-out in the country, cowardly leaving his wife behind to die, but returns to the capital city to be re-united with his children Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and break the news about their mother to them. But then to his terror, Don learns his wife has survived and is secured in the quarantine camp. Not only that, but she has a rare blood type that is fighting off the virus. When she infects Don with the virus, turning him into a zombie, his kids are left to make their own way to safety, aided by a humanistic American soldier named Doyle (Jeremy Renner) and Sally (Amanda Walker) a doctor who wants to protect Tammy above all else, believing she may hold the cure to the virus.
I must admit this sequel to the very enjoyable 2002 Brit chiller 28 Days Later caught me somewhat by surprise, as I had no idea of it being in production or even having been made until a few weeks before it came out. Nevertheless, making a sequel to that great homegrown film has been a surprisingly inspired idea, a film that manages to be just as tense and atmospheric as the original, getting right on a par with it in fact. The over-view of a deserted London is as eerie and unsettling as last time round, with a neat sense of claustrophobia creepily taking over the hustle and bustle usually associated with that city. Only this time round, there's more as an emphasis on the action element as well, a la Aliens, with the gung ho Americans being drafted in to restore order to the decaying city with their tough talk and big guns. Nevertheless, we have a likable character in Doyle, a man of reason and compassion when all his colleagues are pushing their military might around. There's a nice, believable edge to all the characters in fact, from the selfish and cowardly father, to the two kids who become orphans realizing they're all they have together now and so sticking together through thick and thin.
With Danny Boyle and a lot of the original production team tied up with the year's earlier Brit mega flick Sunshine, Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has taken over here. Although he retains a lot of Boyle's original vision, his camera use during the zombie attacks is a little too shaky and close-up, which is a bit of a hindrance. But what a minor complaint with a film that does what I was convinced it would not do, live right up to the standards of the original and, while not improving on it in any way, matching it's quality right up to a tee. ****