28 WEEKS LATER (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007) ***

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2007)

I was sufficiently impressed by the revamping of the zombie sub-genre that was 28 DAYS LATER (2002), though I wasn't particularly looking forward to seeing a sequel to it! That said, the second installment (the film's ending leaves one expecting a third is likely to appear somewhere down the road) exceeded all my expectations and is, possibly, even superior to its predecessor!
Anyway, the film is an intense and gore-drenched outing which manages to find new avenues to explore in a theme long since exhausted: the virus which exploded in the first film has apparently been contained; yet a woman surfaces who, though infected, is amazingly immune to the 'rage'. The scientists are eager to study her in order to find a possible antidote but, unwittingly, her husband (Robert Carlyle) gets in contact with her and, soon, there's a new outbreak of the zombie plague! This time, however, the military are taking no chances and issue an order for indiscriminate annihilation of the population – leading to a spectacular sequence as London is engulfed in flames. Carlyle, however, proves to be inordinately tenacious for a zombie – determined to catch up with his children (under constant military protection because they might be immune to the virus as well).
While the recurring hand-held cinematography is liable to give one a headache, the film is buoyed by John Murphy's disarming and tremendously effective score. Besides, the presence of the two children – one a boy, the other a teenage girl – gives the whole an unexpected emotional core, which elevates it above the blood-and-guts mentality of most of its ilk. Despite the fact that I've never heard of the director and that the creators of its predecessor – Danny Boyle and Alex Garland – are here relegated to the sidelines, the film is quite deftly staged, with a particularly intense pre-credits sequence and an awesome helicopter zombie massacre.