A Truly Great Horror Film

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2007)

When I heard there was going to be a sequel to 28 DAYS LATER I slammed my cards on the table and proclaimed that this was going to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of recent cinema . Despite the flaws of 28 DL - And there was many - it was at least an attempt to make an intelligent post apocalyptic adventure in the vein of John Wyndham or John Christopher even though the end result was unsatisfactory but a sequel ! That's just a case of a film becoming a franchise isn't it ? It's made simply to make a profit for some film company and after hearing that the story revolves around those damn Americans saving limey butt once again I just knew I'd be watching OBJECTIVE BURMA crossbred with a generic zombie film . Give me some credit for putting my head on the block but I'm going to have to eat my words because I saw 28 WEEKS LATER earlier tonight and I was totally engrossed for the entire running time
It is not necessary to have seen the predecessor because the story starts with husband and wife Don and Alice cooking dinner in a barricaded house . Despite some obvious exposition this is a very well written scene because we think they're alone but then we're introduced to several other characters who have survived a hellish plague that seems to have swept across the world and it's only when a child starts banging at the door that the audience find out something else - It's day outside something we hadn't realised . What happens then caused myself and the rest of the audience to jump out of our seats and we see Don do something totally practical and unheroic but be honest what would you have done in the same situation ? And something like this adds vermislitude to a plot that may seem silly
As the story jumps forward 28 weeks later NATO has started to bring back refugees to Britain and rebuild the British state and having seen some of screenwriter's Rowan Joffe's output I was expecting some dire leftist agitprop something that appeals to me as much as pro American flag waving but no this is a plot that touches upon what is happening in Iraq where the road to hell is paved with very good intentions . Thankfully the audience aren't walloped over the head with the analogy but the more intelligent audience members will be able to notice the parallels while the horror and action fans will be very well catered for by the bloody set pieces . It should be pointed out that in atmosphere this tends to resemble James Herbert or George A Romero rather than Wyndham and Christopher but that's not a complaint
Mention should also go that this is a far better paced screenplay than Alex Garland's and has far less plot holes though there are one or two things that are totally brushed over like how on earth did Alice survive six months when Britain had turned to a murderous hell ? Oh she's a carrier of rage so maybe the infected didn't attack her because of this ? If that is the case then why does she get killed by someone she passes the infecion to ? And there's a scene towards the end in the underground which involves laughable coincidence , but there's nothing like the ridiculous lack of internal logic seen in the Boyle/Garland movie and best of all this sequel has a genuinely disturbing and pessimistic epilogue and that alone eclipses the original