Effective horror movie with pace and gore but, surprisingly, not enough in the way of desperation and fear (SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (1 December 2007)

I'm not ashamed to admit that I avoided this in cinemas because I genuinely find zombie movies terrifying (and yes I appreciate that they are not zombies but infected people here), mostly due to the simple desire to kill and the way that everything we take for granted collapses in regards society, morals etc. It also doesn't help that I'm not a big gore fan either and that I had heard this film was pretty bad for that too. However, as much as it scared me I did "enjoy" 28 Days Later and did want to see this. So on a windless sunny Saturday morning I finally got round to watching it. The opening sequence is why I both love and hate this genre  it is the utter fear and relentlessness of the infected. I was gripped by the simplicity and desperation of the situation and it very much reminded me of the first half of the original film not only in this regards but also in the way that the basic elements of society are stripped away (in this case self-preservation taking precedence over everything else).
Unfortunately, not unlike the first film, a plot is required to move forward with and when this arrives in earnest, so do the problems. The first signs are good as we find ourselves in a scenario that is well constructed around Iraq  with the "safe" zones etc. Superficially this is very clever and does allow for veiled digs at the US approach out there but wisely it doesn't force this point too much. The film somehow has to get the infection into this safe zone and as many have already said, it does it by making massive leaps of coincidence and absences of logic. The hope would be that these are overlooked because we do quickly get to the outbreak after a comparatively quiet first 40 minutes. However by keeping Don in it, the film actually continually reminds us that, even within the internal logic of the film itself, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense.
Keeping him and his family as a thread no matter what is also a problem because the unlikely action takes away from the sense of hopelessness and survival that this genre thrives on. Instead, as we are with the main two characters, I felt a bit remote from this, almost safe  not something I thought I would feel with this film. I don't want to sound too negative though because there are plenty of individual moments are aspects that are very good. Those who have seen Fresnadillo's Intacto will already be aware that while effective story-structuring is clearly not his thing, he is able to direct stylish and slick action. He does it at the start and he does it throughout the majority of the film, even if it is not as good as I would have liked. In "28 Days" we hear about an infected in a crowd and it is a chilling description. "28 Weeks" attempts to show us this but sadly fudges it even if it does try. The outbreak and the loss of control is well done because again it does have that desperate air of fear about it but after this it becomes more variable again. At times we get "narrow escape" action with "red shirts" in the group being sacrificed  again keeping the fear a little remote. However at other times we do lose main characters in gripping moments. The design of some scenes is brilliant as well  the night vision journey underground for example.
Mostly the horror comes down to being about gore more than fear and I understand why some will appreciate this. For me it just made the film feel a little bit like hard work and gore doesn't draw an emotion from me other than revulsion. You can see the increased budget here because the bloody special effects are impressive throughout. More impressively (for me) are the scenes of a deserted London  which are challenging no matter how much money you have access to. The cast are good but suffer due to the material. You can see why Carlyle was attracted; he delivers the guilt well and it is not his fault that the script keeps him around long after he should have been written out. Renner and Byrne are given more heroic characters and thus take away from this aspect but do manage to carry the basic narrative with solid performances. The two child actors avoid being cute and are reasonably good. I was quite surprised to find Elba and Perrineau (from HBO's The Wire and Oz respectively) involved and, although they have minor characters, they are convincing and have presence. As before, Murphy's score is appropriate and well used.
Don't get me wrong by what I am saying  this is gory and quite exciting stuff that has potential in the Iraq parallels to be pretty smart. It is a success but it is a limited one partly due to the inability of the story to overcome some devices of convenience and some downright bad ideas. However for me the thing that was hardest to get away from that the absence of fear as a consistent emotion and, as much as I enjoyed the pace and the ideas, I wanted to be more involved and less of an observer.