Very good at one thing that matters in horror films: intensity

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2007)

Well, I guess I can tolerate the use of "28 Weeks" in the title of this film to keep it in line with its predecessor. And overall, it follows its predecessor pretty well, even adding on heaps more suspense throughout the film. In fact, I would have to say this is perhaps the most suspenseful and anxiety-inducing film I've seen in a while. And that's a good thing.
In fact, the opening sequence to this film is so packed with nervous intensity, even though nothing out-of-the-ordinary is happening, that I had to grip the seat in front of me out release some of the anticipation. Because you know of the first film, 28 Days Later, you know that you can't have a peaceful cottage anywhere. Rage-zombies will attack. And it will not be pretty. But the players and the direction handle that anxiety so well, that I was still quick shocked by the ferocity of the following events.
On the plus side, Weeks manages to avoid the pitfall of Days, that is trying to hold two separate overarching stories at the seams. On the minus side, major plot/story contrivances had me smacking my head in shock and ridicule. That and the overall point of the film is quite, uh, disagreeable. Days managed to tell a zombie apocalypse story very well, but then went into a story about how humanity can be real monsters as well. The switch wasn't very good, but each story holds together well. Weeks tells basically one story of running away from rage-zombies. It could've been that simple and effective, but some things just didn't sit well with me.
Without going into detail, certain characters survive when it wouldn't make any sense for them to, and appear in places where by their very appearance, they create a contrivance in the story. Furthermore, the plans of the U.S. Military in crisis situation only partially made sense. Some of the situations created were highly unbelievable and the story had to permit these unbelievable events in order to move forward. But it unfortunately took me out of the film long enough, wondering why things were done that way, that the intensity of the following efforts (that is, the last 2/3 of the film) lost their magic.
That's not to say that there weren't moments of genius in the film. I loved the use of darkness and light and a more integrated theme of how humanity can be a big monster. There was at least one set piece in the film that I'd already seen in Grindhouse's Planet Terror piece, which contrasted a little strongly with the otherwise tense zombie escape.
The ending further lost me because of how it contradicted many of the events and dialogue in the film. And it's clearly a setup for 28 Months Later, but I suppose being a horror movie, you just had to do something like that. Unfortunately, the ending also cements a series of messages embedded in the film that I found highly disconcerting. These include: authority is always right, never give too much power to the people, life is expendable, life can and should be extinguished to protect the greater public even if innocent, never trust your human instinct to protect others, children are only trouble, among other messages. Weeks is a very nihilistic film and I found that as I watched it and processed the underlying messages behind the events of the film, I disliked it more and more.
Still, the film has many merits, including managing to keep the intensity up through the course of the film. It has a powerful sense of menace--you never feel safe during the film, even when the characters appear to be safe. And, in the end, it is very good at doing what horror films do best: instill fear, doubt, dread, shock and terror. It just has to resort to a little contrivance along the way to keep it going. And say some things that I didn't like, but were woven into the situations that were set up. I honestly think that with some smallish changes in the story, entirely more agreeable messages could've come from the story.
But as it is, it's a very competent shockfest that doesn't suffer from the slowdown of its predecessor. An aggressive story about running away from rage-zombies. And if you're looking for intensity and the gore, this is a good place to go. Just try to ignore the occasional bits of stupidity. 7/10.