A Superb Sequel

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2007)

28 Weeks Later is one of the best worst-case-scenario films. While it doesn't surpass the first film, it more than lives up to every expectation set by 28 Day Later and is a great sequel.
The second installment of what is all but a confirmed trilogy takes place six months after all of the infected from the first movie have starved and died again. American forces have moved in and are now attempting to rebuild and repopulate England starting at the Isle of Dogs in London. Amongst the civilians now living in complete safety and quarantine is a man named Don, who fled a refuge under attack 28 weeks prior where he lost his wife and was the only survivor, or so he thought.
Don's children, teenage Tammy and twelve-year-old Andy, come to live with Don in the quarantine some time later. The mischievous kids finding it difficult to live in their new surroundings break out of quarantine and attempt to find solace in their old home, and it's there that they find their mother; alive, infected, but not symptomatic.
And from that point on, the movie snowballs into the usual catastrophic, apocalyptic, epidemic scenario film. Sort of predictable, but enjoyable none-the-less (and it's the very formula that always has people coming back for more). The biggest difference of all with 28 Weeks Later is that this film is actually good. It's atmospheric and frightening. There is a fair bit of gore, but it never gets lost in its own indulgences. The film is well acted, well produced, and well worth it. When this film gets moving, it's one hell of a ride.
The only problem with 28 Weeks Later is that there are far too many clichés surrounding a survival horror movie that it's hard not to get bogged down in at least a few. There's the rag-tag group of survivors, the rogue military escort, the looming presence of a hidden evil enterprise, the "why in the hell would you do that??" situations, and many more that it's a futile attempt to encompass them all. Thankfully, 28 Weeks Later does enough of them right that it's hard to stay mad at it for too long.
Survival horror movies are unique in the sense that no other film genre has as many clichés to avoid and/or reinvent, and there are an astronomical number of ways to muck it all up. That said, 28 Weeks Later navigates through the pits of plot holes and stupidity well enough that it manages to become stylish, frightening, and above all else enjoyable. 28 Weeks Later is essentially the blue print for all survivor horror movies to come for the next decade, and makes me wonder where the hell Danny Boyle was six years ago when Resident Evil was in production. While not quite perfect, it really doesn't need to be.
Personally, I'm just happy knowing that the end didn't involve blowing up a giant mutated something or other with a rocket launcher with only three minutes left before the mansion/facility/island blows up. (If you've played and Resident Evil game, you know what I mean).
4/5