A Late 28 Weeks Later Review

Rating: 4/10 (30 June 2008)

I won't go into a summary of what this movie is about. I think anyone who has seen "28 Days Later" has an inkling of what it revolves around.
What did I like: Mucho more gore than the first. Always a big plus in my book. Very apocalyptic and not as "Hollywood" as I thought they would go. Great hand-held shots and timing/shutter effects similar to the first flick so you can practically see every little drop of blood in crystal clarity. The beginnings of a great flawed hero with an outstanding chance for a journey to redemption.
What I did not like: Though the gore was greater, the actual scare factor was significantly less. The first one had some intense scary moments. Granted the first 10 minutes of the second installment were really nail baiting, afterwords it was one big chase scene and the intensity left me numb. Maybe it wasn't as scary because those great hand-held shots, timing/shutter effects I mentioned earlier were so quick, chaotic, and distracting that I could barely comprehend what was going on. Artistically I know where the director was going with this. That was obvious. But it lessened the entertainment value because the shots are so quick that I sometimes had a hard time following exactly where I was in a scene. Since I couldn't see anything for a period of time longer than a nanosecond the scare factor fell dramatically.
The potential character arc of Robert Carlyle's character would have made for a superb flawed hero but that was snatched away halfway through when he became infected with "rage." Some may think he got his 'just desserts' for his actions earlier in the film, but what a great emotional hurdle to overcome and be eventually redeemed by at the end of the movie - if only they had given that specific plot a chance. Instead, the plot switched gears to the much less interesting children of Carlyle's character as we see them bumbling like dunder heads through a devastated London. Totally one-sided characters who I kept hoping would come to some untimely end while the minor characters out-shined them by a mile (and that's saying a lot since the minor characters were just as witless as the kids).
Oh well. It wasn't a bad movie. It wasn't that good either. I wonder if/when we will see a third installment?