Abandon all reason before watching

Rating: 4/10 (29 October 2007)

I completely agree with the previous reviewer in everything he says concerning plot holes and the completely moronic behavior of every character in the movie leading up to the outbreak and beyond. I couldn't help but crack jokes about and express bafflement at the complete and utter lack of judgment of each and every character above the age of 12 (the age of the "protagonist") and really, even he should have known better.
Yet I'll give it a four because if you can allow yourself to fall into an impenetrable state of disbelief, the movie is fairly entertaining as a gore-fest with a few scares and it does make one reminisce about how awesome its predecessor was.
In fact, I would have perhaps given it a seven, even given all its negatives, if the message of the movie in the end wasn't so entirely and irredeemably contradictory. I don't want to spoil the ending, but think about the actions of the military, think about the intentions of those dissenters, then think about the outcome and tell me who the **** was supposed to be right. What did the filmmakers want us to take away from that?! My frustration with this ending is almost unparalleled. Certainly, I wasn't expecting a profound message, but I expected so much more from a film that at least was supposedly produced in part by Alex Garland and Neil Marshall. Honestly, I doubt they even read the screenplay carefully and just took a check to let someone else make a slick but ham-handed sequel to an intellectual property that they owned but weren't really interested in pursuing further.
Still, there's lots of fast zombies that eat people and puke blood and whatnot. That counts for something.